CAMBRIDGE COUN1Y GEOGRAPHIES
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
T
CAMBRIDGE COUNTY GEOGRAPHIES
SCOTLAND
General Editor: W. MURISON, M.A.
PEEBLES
AND
SELKIRK
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
C. F. CLAY, MANAGER
FETTER LANE, E.G.
too PRINCES STREET
Berlin: A. ASHER AND CO.
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SCofego: THE MARUZEN-KABUSHIKI-KAISHA
All rights reserved
oxx.XA. <-e^
Cambridge County Geographies
PEEBLES
AND
SELKIRK
by
GEORGE C. PRINGLE, M.A.
Rector, Burgh and County High School, Peebles
With Maps, Diagrams and Illustrations
Cambridge :
at the University Press
1914
ffiatnbrtbgr:
PRINTED BY JOHN CLAY, M.A.
AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS
1*9
CONTENTS
PAGE
1. County and Shire. The Origin of Peebles and Selkirk i
2. General Characteristics ...... 3
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries ..... 6
4. Surface and General Features ..... 9
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lochs . . . . .13
6. Geology . . . . . . . . 23
7. Natural History . . . . . . .34
8. Climate and Rainfall 42
9. People — Race, Language, Population . . .48
10. Agriculture . . . . . ." . .52
11. The Manufacture of Wool ..... 60
12. Minerals . . . . . . . .65
13. Fishing ......... 69
14. History of the Counties . . . . . .72
15. Antiquities — Pre-historic, British, Roman . . 77
vi CONTENTS
PAGE
1 6. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical . . 85
17. Architecture — (b) Military: Castles and Peels . 91
1 8. Architecture — (c) Domestic ... 101
19. Communications — Past and Present. . 111
20. Administration and Divisions . . .118
21 The Roll of Honour . . .122
22 The Chief Towns and Villages . • '37
ILLUSTRATIONS
Peebles from the West ....... 2
Selkirk from the North-West ...... 4
Yarrow Kirk and Manse ...... 8
Galashiels . ... . . . . . .12
Talla Linns . . . . . . . . .16
Ettrick Pen . . . . . . . . -19
Entrance to St Mary's Loch . . . . . .21
St Mary's Loch . . . . . . . .21
Geological Section through Southern Uplands. . . 26
Hills of Synclinal Formation ...... 26
Anticlines and Synclines . . . . . . .28
Graptolites from the Hartfell Shales, Mount Benger Burn 29
Graptolite (Monograptus Sedgiuicki) from Grieston Quarry,
Peeblesshire . . . . . . .31
Graptolites (Monograptus Griestonensis) from Grieston Quarry 3 1
Scots Pine . . . . . . . . -37
i Kingfisher, 2 Little Auk, 3, 4 Stormy Petrels . . 40
Curves showing the comparative growth of the populations
of Peebles, Selkirk, Berwick and Roxburgh Shires . 5 1
Sheep-shearing at Henderland Farm, Megget ... 56
Oldest Larch in Scotland . . . . . .59
Power Looms . . . . . . . -63
viii ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE
Warping Machines. ....... 63
Technical College, Galashiels ...... 64
St Ronan's Well, Innerleithen 68
Bend on the Tweed near Yair ..... 70
Flodden Memorial, Selkirk ...... 73
Catrail Fort at Rink 78
Lyne Roman Camp . . . . . . .83
Roman Coin found at Bellanrig in Manor, 1910 . . 84
Tower of St Andrew's, Peebles, before restoration . 86
Parish Church, Stobo ....... 89
Neidpath Castle, Peebles ....... 93
Newark Tower ........ 94
Elibank Castle . . . . . . . -97
" Yett " at Barns Tower . . . . . .100
Fairnilee House . . . . . . . .103
Plan of Traquair House. . . . . . .104
Traquair House . . . . . . . .106
Stobo Castle . . . . . . . . .107
Ashiesteel House . . . . . . . .108
Bowhill, Selkirk . . . . . . . .109
Cacra Bank, Ettrick . . . . . . .112
Bridge at Ettrick Bridge End . . . . .116
Old stone with Harden's crest . . . . .117
Seal of the Royal Burgh of Peebles, Dec. 15, 1473 . 121
Mungo Park . . . . . . . . .127
Hogg's Monument at St Mary's Loch . . . .130
Andrew Lang. ........ 133
Professor George Lawson . . . . . -135
Queensberry Lodging . . . . . . .139
Flodden Flag . . . . . . . . .144
Diagrams . . . . . . . . .146
ILLUSTRATIONS ix
MAPS
PAGE
Peebles and Selkirk, Physical .... Front Cover
„ „ Geological . . . Back Cover
Rainfall Map of Scotland ...... 47
Line of the Catrail through Selkirkshire . . .81
Peel Towers of Peebles and Selkirk Shires ... 99
The Thief's Road 114
The illustrations on pp. 2, 12, 93 and 107 are from photo-
graphs by Messrs J. Valentine and Sons; those on pp. 4, 8,
19, 21 (St Mary's Loch), 40, 56, 73, 78, 94, 109, 112, 1 16, 127,
130, 135, and 144 are from photographs (a number of which'were
specially taken for this book) by Mr A. R. Edwards, Selkirk ;
those on pp. 21 (Entrance to St Mary's Loch) and 70 are from
photographs by Mr Colledge, Innerleithen ; those on pp. 29 and
31 from photographs, taken by Mr Colledge, of fossils lent by
Mr George Storie, a former pupil of the author; those on pp. 37
and 59 from photographs by Mr J. Ward, Peebles.
Thanks are due to the Tweeddale Society, through Mr J.
Walter Buchan, for the use of blocks from which the illustra-
tions on pp. 16, 97, 103 and 108 are reproduced; to Dr John
Bartholomew, Geographical Institute, Edinburgh, for permission
to reproduce the illustration (adapted) on p. 26 (fig. i) ; to
Messrs Ballantyne and Co., Peebles, for permission to reproduce
those on p. 63 ; to the Directors of the South of Scotland Technical
College, Galashiels, through Dr Oliver, for the use of the block
for the illustration on p. 64 ; to Messrs R. Smail and Sons,
Innerleithen, for permission to reproduce those on pp. 68 and
1 06 ; to Mr T. Craig Brown, Selkirk, for permission to reproduce
the map on p. 8 1 and the illustration on p. 1 1 7 ; to the Society
of Antiquaries of Scotland to reproduce the plan on p. 83 ; to
x ILLUSTRATIONS
Dr C. B. Gunn, Peebles, for the use of the blocks for those on
pp. 84, 86, 89 and 121 ; to Mr Ross for permission to reproduce
from McGibbon and Ross' Castellated Architecture of Scotland the
plan on p. 104; to Mrs Andrew Lang for kindly supplying
the portrait on p. 133, and to Mr Allan Smyth of the Peeblessbire
Advertiser for the use of the block for the illustration on p. 139.
The maps on pp. 99 and 114 and the sketches on p. too were
made by J. Connel Pringle, who also adapted that on p. 26 (fig. i).
For useful information and suggestions the author desires to
express his obligations to : Lord Glenconner of Glen ; Mr T.
Craig Brown, Selkirk ; Mr James Sanderson, Woodlands,
Galashiels ; Dr Oliver, Galashiels ; Mr J. Ramsay, Board of
Agriculture for Scotland ; Mr Watt, Scottish Meteorological
Society ; Messrs Leslie and Reid, of Edinburgh and District
Water Trust; the Rev. Wm. McConnachie, Lander; Mr G.
Constable, Traquair; Mr J. Ramsay Smith, Peebles; the late
Mr R. S. Anderson, Peebles; Mr Bartie, Selkirk; Dr C. B.
Gunn, Peebles ; Mr Herbertson, Galashiels ; Mr M. Ritchie,
High School, Peebles ; Messrs W. and T. Paterson, Crookston,
Peebles ; Mr Geo. Wilkie, Mr Wm. Sanderson, Mr W. Johnstone,
Peebles, and others.
NOTE
In other volumes of the series dealing with two counties,
e.g. Argyllshire and Buteshire, each county is treated separately.
This method, however, was found less suitable in the case of
Peebles and Selkirk, which have been treated for the most part
as a single area.
i. County and Shire. The Origin of
Peebles and Selkirk.
The word shire is of Old English origin and meant
office, charge, administration. The Norman Conquest
introduced the word county — through French from the
Latin comitatus^ which in mediaeval documents designates
the shire. County is the district ruled by a count, the
king's comes, the equivalent of the older English term earl.
This system of local administration entered Scotland as
part of the Anglo-Norman influence that strongly affected
our country after the year noo. Our shires differ in
origin, and arise from a combination of causes — geogra-
phical, political and ecclesiastical.
The first known sheriff of Selkirk was Andrew de
Synton appointed by William the Lyon (1165-1214);
and there were sheriffs of Peebles in the same reign. In
1286 Peebles had two sheriffs, one holding his courts at
Traquair, the other at Peebles — the two courts being
amalgamated about the year 1304. In Alexander II's
reign Gilbert Fraser was sheriff of Traquair, while in
the reign of Alexander III Sir Simon Fraser was sheriff
of Peebles and keeper of the forests of Selkirk and
Traquair.
p. P. s. i
2 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
But these counties were more familiarly known by
other names. In State Documents Peebles was frequently
called Tweeddale (Tuedal), and Selkirk, Ettrick Forest or
the Forest. Even in Blaeu's Atlas (1654) the inscription
on the map of the two counties is : " Twee-Dail with
the Sherifdome of Ettrick Forest, called also Selkirk."
Peebles from the West
Ettrick Forest — sometimes, and presumably later, Selkirk
Forest — was, however, much more extensive than the
present Selkirkshire.
The name Peebles, older form Peblis, is generally
regarded as derived from the British word pebyll, tents,
place of tents. Selkirk, old spelling Scheleschirche, is taken
to mean the kirk of the shieling.
COUNTY AND SHIRE 3
No doubt the counties came into existence as con-
venient districts determined mainly by natural conditions
as rivers, mountains, forests, for the administration of
local and national affairs. Peebles corresponded to the
Vale of the Tweed from the source of the river till it
approaches the region of its first large tributary, the
Ettrick from the Forest, the watershed between the
Tweed and the Ettrick forming a natural boundary.
The Shire of the Forest was a distinctive area at first
marked out and set aside as a hunting preserve for the
Scottish kings. As political and social conditions have
changed, these counties have also changed in shape and
to some extent in size.
2. General Characteristics.
Peebles and Selkirk are entirely inland counties ; but
they are not so cut off from the sea as not to be affected
by the outer world and as not to affect it. No region on
the face of the earth, not even Greece excepted, has been
more " besung " than the Border Ballad district embraced
in Selkirkshire. Burns says " Yarrow and Tweed to
monie a tune owre Scotland rings " and the poetry of the
district is without doubt its chief claim to distinction.
The Tweed or woollen industry has rendered these
counties no less famous in the sphere of commerce.
It is not necessary to assume that spiritual and mental
characteristics are entirely due to material causes. If the
people of the Forest and of the Uplands of Peebles and
4 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Selkirk were brave and romantic it does not follow that it
was the Forest and the Uplands that made them so. It
was probably an initial endowment of the spirit of adven-
ture and love of freedom that drove many of the early
inhabitants into these fastnesses where even the king as
well as foreign foes hesitated to intrude. But the natural
conditions of the Forest had undoubtedly a great influence
on the thoughts, emotions and occupations of its inhabi-
Selkirk from the North-West
tants — the conditions : (i) that the counties belong to
the Southern Uplands, a district noted for its suitability as
a pastoral region and for its picturesque beauty ; (2) that
they are included in the district of the middle marches
over which the tide of war ebbed and flowed for centuries.
It was natural that a region in which King James IV
at one time had as many as 10,000 sheep and from which
much wool was exported to Flanders should have woollen
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS 5
factories as at Galashiels, Selkirk and Peebles. But besides
the sheep there were cattle in the meadows, and beasts in
the Forest, whence oak bark was obtained for tanning.
So that there was also leather in abundance and up to the
end of the eighteenth century Selkirk was more famous
for its shoe-making than Galashiels for its woollen manu-
facture.
Although the counties took more than their share in
the extension and improvement of agriculture in the
eighteenth century, yet owing to the hilly nature of the
region and the consequent thinness of the soil, the coun-
ties, except in the north-west of Peeblesshire,have remained
chiefly pastoral. The present outstanding features of the
district therefore are sheep-farming and woollen manufac-
tures. But at the time when planting became fashionable
in Scotland, in no part of the country did so much planting
of timber take place, as in the counties of Selkirk and
Peebles. Indeed, previous to the extension of railway
lines into the counties it was considered that this planting
had been overdone. In the vicinity of the county towns
and in such districts as Bowhill, in Selkirkshire, and
Cademuir Hill, in Peeblesshire, a great change has been
effected in the appearance of the landscape by the planting
of woods and forests, mainly pine. At the time referred
to numerous estates particularly in Peeblesshire were pur-
chased by wealthy merchants and professional men and
vast sums of money expended on laying out policies, on
building, draining and planting. One estate in particular,
the property of the Earl of Islay, afterwards the third
Duke of Argyll, obtained its name, "The Whim," in
6 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
token of the excessive outlay in converting a wild morass
into a pleasure ground. From its romantic associations,
picturesque attractions, and its proximity to Glasgow and
Edinburgh, wealthy proprietors have helped to make
Peeblesshire the county with the highest valuation (12*5)
per head of the population in Scotland. Selkirkshire,
however, has remained chiefly in the hands of one or two
of the great nobles — the Buccleuchs and the Napiers ;
and consequently the ratio of its valuation (6*5) to its
population has not increased to the same extent.
3. Size. Shape. Boundaries.
The area of Peeblesshire is 222,240 acres of land and
1048 acres of water. Selkirkshire has 170,793 acres of
land and 1796 acres of water, and is therefore about three-
quarters the size of Peebles. Peebles could be contained in
Inverness more than twelve times, and could itself contain
Clackmannan more than six times. It comprehends one
eighty-seventh part of the land and water of Scotland.
Peeblesshire is roughly triangular in form. The
longest side stretches from Borestone in the north of the
parish of Linton to the Great Hill where the Coreburn
takes its rise, on the southern boundary between the
parishes of Tweedsmuir and Moffat. A line drawn
through Great Hill and Dollar Law to Thorn ilee in a
north-easterly direction marks the direction of the south-
eastern boundary between the two counties. The third
and shortest side of the triangle runs north-west from
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 7
Thornilee to Borestone. The Tweed basin with its
tributaries fills up this triangular area, the sides of which
converge towards its south-eastern apex.
On the west Peebles marches with Lanark, on the
north with Midlothian, on the south with Dumfries, and
on the south-east with Selkirk.
With the exception of the portion which projects in a
south-westerly direction into Dumfriesshire, the outline of
the county of Selkirk may be described as an ellipse or
oval of irregular outline, with its main axis lying north-
east and south-west. The greatest length along the main
axis from Capell Fell to Galashiels is twenty-seven miles.
The greatest breadth from Dear Heights in the north of
the Caddon division of the county to Hangingshaw Hill
north of the Ale Water is about the same.
Selkirk marches with Peebles on the north-west, with
Dumfries on the south-west, with Roxburgh along the
eastern curve, and with Midlothian on the north.
Before 1892, when the Boundary Commission for
Scotland was appointed, several detached portions of the
one county lay within the other. The parish of Lyne in
Peeblesshire had previously been joined with that of
Megget in Selkirkshire to form one parish, although
separated each from the other by the whole length of
Manor Vale and parish, a distance of fully fourteen miles.
The Commissioners ordered that Megget should form part
of the parish of Yarrow in the county of Selkirk. Similarly
the portions of the parishes of Peebles and Innerleithen,
which used to be in the county of Selkirk, are now in the
county of Peebles. A detached portion of Yarrow parish,
8 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
about 2166 acres, surrounded by the parishes of Peebles,
Innerleithen and Traquair, was united to Traquair parish
(which the Yarrow portion had divided into two) in the
county of Peebles. The parish of Culter no longer exists.
From 1 80 1 to 1851 it was returned as wholly in Lanark ;
from 1851 to 1891 part of it was returned in Peebles-
shire. In 1891 this portion was transferred to the parish
of Broughton, Glenholm and Kilbucho.
Yarrow Kirk and Manse
The Commission had also to deal with parishes partly
in Selkirk and partly in Roxburgh and Midlothian.
Roberton parish in the east, which used to be partly
included in Selkirk, is now entirely within the county of
Roxburgh. Portions of the parishes of Ashkirk, Selkirk
and Galashiels, partly in Selkirk and partly in Roxburgh,
were transferred to the county of Selkirk. The large and
SIZE SHAPE BOUNDARIES 9
growing town of Galashiels close to the borders of Rox-
burgh and Selkirk had to extend its boundaries eastwards ;
and the Commissioners decreed that the portion of Melrose
parish in the county of Selkirk should become part of the
parish of Galashiels and of the county of Selkirk. Still
later, in 1908, another portion of Melrose parish was
annexed to the burgh of Galashiels for drainage purposes,
and in 1911 annexed to the parish of Galashiels.
The anomalies were not, however, all removed. The
parish of Stow is situated partly in the county of Edinburgh
and partly in the county of Selkirk. The Selkirkshire
portion, known as Caddonfoot, is of large area with a
population almost wholly agricultural ; and as there were
reasons against bringing Edinburgh down to the Tweed,
as well as against making Caddonfoot part of Galashiels,
this portion of Selkirkshire was kept within the parish of
Stow. In 1898, however, by order of the Secretary for
Scotland, it was formed into the parish of Caddonfoot in
the county of Selkirk together with portions of the parishes
of Selkirk, Galashiels and Yarrow.
These changes do not affect the ecclesiastical parishes.
4. Surface and General Features.
The part of southern Scotland known geographically
as the Southern Uplands, a region now cut and carved
into valleys and watersheds, was formerly a lofty tableland.
A line drawn through Penicuik, Galashiels and Melrose,
where the Tweed leaves the Uplands and enters the plain,
10 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
and another line from the Moffat hills to Melrose along
the ridge separating the Ettrick from the Teviot, will
practically cut off that portion of the Uplands which
contains the counties of Peebles and Selkirk. The whole
of this portion is filled with hills the tops of which are
flattened or rounded, the sides smooth, and (except in the
highest parts, where peat and heath are frequently found)
covered with grass, crags and rocks being rare. This
region is in the main pastoral and has hardly any culti-
vated ground except along the haughs or on the lower
slopes of the hills. The most extensive areas of hill peat
are found on the Moorfoots on the high ground over-
looking the Leithen water and also on the Manor hills to
the south-west. These uplands are bare of any natural
wood, but in the lower reaches of the Tweed and its
longer tributaries, many of the hills are clothed to their
summits with woods and plantations, most of them planted
within the last hundred and fifty years. The district
south of the Tweed including all Selkirk and more, was
at one time the Forest of Ettrick.
Starting from the central mass of the Uplands in
which rise the Tweed, the Annan and the Clyde, the
trend of the valleys, and, therefore, of the ridges between
them, is towards the north-east, till we come to the bank
of the Tweed, when we are met with ridges on the north
side with a trend to the south-east. The former valleys
are called longitudinal, because in a line with the strike
of the strata, and the other transverse, because at right
angles to the strike. Examples of longitudinal valleys
are : Ale, Ettrick, Yarrow, Holms, Tweed (to Broughton),
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 11
Manor, Quair ; of transverse valleys : Biggar, Lyne,
Eddleston, Leithen, Walkerburn and Gala. These ridges
and rounded masses approach so near and interfold and
overlap on each bank so closely that, apart from other
proofs, it is apparent that the whole region has at one
time been a plateau which the Tweed and its tributaries
with other agencies have scoured and grooved and rubbed
down into what resembles a rounded, billowy ocean.
The only comparatively level part within the two
counties is the district towards the north, stretching
between the Moorfoots and the Pentlands from a low
watershed, sloping away on the one side towards the
shores of the Firth, and, on the other, towards the
south-west into the Clyde valley. A flattish range of
hills between Eddleston and Lyne waters divides this vale
in two, the western portion running north-east and south-
west between the Pentlands and the north-western edge
of the Southern Uplands. This plain varies in breadth
from four miles at Auchencorth in Midlothian to less
than one hundred yards in places between Romanno
Bridge and Skirling. The surface is arable, well cultivated
and wooded, with stretches of moorland towards the
Pentlands.
A line from Leadburn through Romanno, Skirling,
and Culter separates these two distinctly different regions,
the one lowland and arable, the other upland and pastoral.
This line coincides with a great " fault " between two
different geological formations.
Six sections may be distinctly marked out in this
upland region. The first is Selkirkshire, with its parallel
12
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
ridges lying north-east and south-west from the high
central mass culminating in Capel Fell and Ettrick Pen
and forming the watersheds between the Tweed and the
Yarrow, Yarrow and Ettrick, Ettrick and Teviot. Each
of these valleys has its south-western end wild, mountainous
and treeless ; its middle region pastoral, with grassy or
heathery rounded hills and occasional clumps of dark pines
Galashiels
near the farm houses ; its lower end a region of wood
and hill, pasture and arable land. The second section is
bounded by the ridge between Peebles and Selkirk on the
south and the Tweed on the west and north from its
source to Galashiels. This area is occupied by the
parallel masses separating Tweed and Manor, Manor and
Quair, and other lesser streams till Ettrick meets Tweed.
Here, as before, the valleys have the three-fold character of
SURFACE AND GENERAL FEATURES 13
wilderness ; pastoral ; mixed pastoral, woodland and arable.
Thirdly, there is the triangle bounded by the Eddleston
Water, the Tweed, and the boundary line through the
Moorfoots — a high region, several summits being over
2000 feet. Intersected by the transverse valleys of the
Leithen and the Walkerburn, it consists mainly of pasture
and moorland. In the extreme north above Portmore
Loch the ground is low and forms part of the valley
between the Moorfoots and the Pentlands. Round Port-
more the ground in the lower reaches near Eddleston is
well wooded. The fourth section, mainly pastoral, is an
undulating region, the chief heights being the Meldons
between the Eddleston Water and the Lyne. The fifth
division consists of the heights behind Stoboand Broughton,
bounded on the north by the Tarth and on the west by
the Broughton Burn. Beyond that again is the last
section, the agricultural region stretching from Skirling,
Romanno and Leadburn to West Linton and merging
into the moorland towards the Pentlands on the north-
west.
5. Watershed. Rivers. Lochs.
The Southern Uplands is a land of waters and water-
sheds. " A hill, a road, a river " was an English traveller's
terse description in the eighteenth century. Although
now in many parts woods and forests cover the slopes of
the hills and fringe its roads and rivers, hills and rivers
still remain its prominent features.
14 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
The region was at one time an undulating plateau
from whose higher parts streams flowed in all directions.
The Tweed, therefore, in a real physical sense has made
these hills ; and not only made them, but also established
them ; for, by the Tweed along with other sub-aerial
influences they have been made into hills of "stable
equilibrium." Without the river, then, the region would
be meaningless not only to those who take delight in its
beauty and in its historical associations, but also to those
who study its physical configuration.
The general slope of the plateau is towards the south-
east. Hence the Tweed in its course from Peebles to
Berwick, with its tributaries the Lyne, the Eddleston,
the Leithen and the Gala, flows to the south-east. As the
course of these rivers was originally determined by the
slope of the ground they are called consequent, from which
we infer that they are the oldest rivers of the country.
This agrees with the fact that in former geological days,
a great river crossed the country from the region of Loch
Fyne to the North Sea, by the present Clyde Valley,
and by the present Tweed Valley, which it entered
near Biggar. Various changes occurred, which ultimately
resulted in the Clyde and the Tweed as we know them.
On the other hand, the Tweed from Tweedsmuir to
Drummelzier, and the tributaries, the Holms Water, the
Yarrow, the Ettrick, all flowing north-east, must have
been formed subsequently to the time when the course of
the main rivers was settled — probably after the great ice
age. Hence such rivers are called subsequent.
The Tweed (103 m.) rises at Tweedswell, 1250 feet
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 15
above sea-level. After a north-easterly direction as far
as Peebles it turns east-by-south through Peebles and
Selkirk till it meets the Ettrick ; then turning north, it
receives the Gala and a little below Galafoot enters the
county of Roxburgh. Its total course through Peebles-
shire, from Tweedswell to Scrogbank, is 40 miles, and
through Selkirkshire from Scrogbank to the railway bridge,
between Galashiels and Melrose, 10 miles. In Tweeds-
muir the only tributary of any size is the Holms Water,
which unites with the Biggar Water and the Broughton
Burn. The hills in the south-west of Peeblesshire have
their highest summits lying to the east and north of
Tweedswell, on the boundary line between Peebles,
Dumfries and Selkirk. These are Hart Fell (2651),
Loch Craighead (2625), Broad Law (2723), and Dunlaw
(2584). It is in these hills that the Tweed receives such
streams as the Fruid, the Talla (the catchment area
of Talla Reservoir) and the Stanhope. After a course
of 15 miles it enters, below Rachan, the haughlands of
Drummelzier, the widest part of the Tweed valley above
Melrose. Into this plain the valleys of Biggar and
Broughton converge from the west. Near Drummelzier
church the Tweed is 'joined by the Powsail Burn from
Merlindale. The rhyme, attributed to Thomas of
Ercildoune,
" When Tweed and Powsail meet at Merlin's grave,
England and Scotland shall one monarch have,"
is said to have been fulfilled on the day that James VI
became James I of England.
Talla Linns
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 17
Eastwards, beyond Dawyck and Stobo with their
beautiful woods, the Tweed receives the Lyne from the
north-west of the county. More than a mile further on
it meets the Manor Water, with a course almost parallel
to that of the Tweed, the heights between the two streams
comprising Dollar Law, Pykestone, and the Scrape. The
river has now arrived at the picturesque pass of Neidpath,
through which it joyously forces its way above the town of
Peebles (see page 2). Here it is joined on the north bank
by the Eddleston Water, which flows almost due south
from Leadburn heights through a beautiful upland valley.
Haystoun valley to the east and south of Peebles, through
which flows Haystoun Burn, shows evidence of having
once formed the old bed of the river, which flowed from
a large lake stretching beyond Neidpath and Cademuir,
well up towards Drummelzier. Once the water at
Neidpath had worn down the shaly rock sufficiently to
drain the lake, the course in the Haystoun valley gradually
shrank from one lake with a river current through it to a
series of small lakes joined by a narrow stream. These
lakes existed up to 1823, when they were drained and the
cutting exposed the bottom of the old lake.
At Peebles the river has fallen 800 feet. Between
Peebles and Innerleithen on the north and Traquair on
the south bank, the river winds through a beautiful valley
diversified with gently sloping and interfolding hills,
natural forest, wooded parks, green haughs with glimpses
of cattle cooling their limbs at summer noon in shaded
pools, of ancient peel towers perched on rocky slopes, or
of modern mansions gleaming through the trees. Near
p. P. s. 2
18 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Traquair House the Tweed was diverted northwards for
a distance of two miles from its old course. This part of
the river used to be known as the " New Water." The
Quair, which here joins the Tweed on the south bank,
small as it is, is one of the historic streams of Scotland.
It runs parallel to Manor and in its romantic valley stand
the church of Traquair, and the mansion house of the
Glen. Haifa mile further on, the Tweed is joined by the
Leithen Water flowing down a steep pastoral valley from
the Moorfoot Hills.
About one mile west of Elibank Castle the Tweed
becomes the boundary between the counties, and half a
mile below Thornilee station it enters the parish of
Caddonfoot in Selkirkshire. Nearly three miles to the
south-east it passes Ashestiel, opposite which the highroad
strikes over the hill to Clovenfords. South of Clovenfords
the Caddon Water enters the Tweed at Caddonfoot.
Neidpath hill on the opposite bank turns the current to
the south towards Yair House, where the river rushes
over a series of rocky boulders called " Yair Trows."
Here Sir Walter Scott used to " leister " salmon. The
Tweed is now joined by the Yair Burn. On the left
bank a little further on stands Fairnilee, and below
Sunderland Hall the Ettrick from Selkirk, the largest
tributary, enters on the south bank. Then passing
Abbotsford and receiving the Gala from the Moorfoots,
half a mile beyond Galafoot, the Tweed enters Roxburgh,
where it finally leaves the Southern Uplands for the wide
plain between the Cheviots and the Lammermuirs.
The Ettrick (30 miles) rises in Ettrick Pen. Its
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS
19
valley is larger and wider than Yarrow's, and, in its
upper reaches, wilder and more picturesque. Only a few
of its numerous tributaries can be noted. On the right
is the Tima, from Eskdalemuir ; on the left the Kirkburn
and the Scabscleuch, with a road over to Yarrow. Further
down is the Rankleburn with the Buccleuchs, Easter and
Wester, whence the family took their title. On the north
Ettrick Pen
is Tushielaw Tower, home of Adam the Reiver. Three
miles on Ettrick receives Gilmanscleuch Burn on the left,
and then the Dodhead Burn, scene of Jamie Telfer's
" Fair Dodhead," on the right. Northwards through
Ettrick Shaws the scenery is picturesque, Ettrick rushing
through thick plantations over its rocky bed till Ettrick
Bridge End is reached and the old bridge of Wat o'Harden.
2—2
20 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
On the right is Oakwood Tower, on the left Bowhill,
where now Ettrick sweeps with opposing curve to meet
Yarrow round the Carterhaugh, scene of " Young
Tamlane." Thence northwards Ettrick passes Lindean
and enters Tweed.
The Yarrow, rising near Birkhill, flows through the
Loch o' the Lowes and St Mary's Loch, into which also
flows the Megget. On the shores of the loch are Tibbie
Shiel's Inn, the Rodono Hotel and, near the high road,
Perys Cockburn's Grave. Further down the valley are
St Mary's Chapel, Dryhope Tower, Blackhouse Tower —
all three famous in tragic ballad. Still further on, the
Gordon Arms, Mount Benger, Yarrow Manse, " the
Dowie Dens," are passed, till Hangingshaw with its noble
trees, Broadmeadows, once the desire of Walter Scott's
heart, Bowhill and Philiphaugh, all beautifully wooded,
proudly welcome Yarrow home as it ends its course in
Ettrick, east of Carterhaugh.
St Mary's Loch and the Loch o' the Lowes, originally
one, stretch along the valley of the Yarrow for about two-
thirds of their length. The Oxcleugh Burn and the
Whitehope Burn have pushed their deltas out from the
shore until they have eventually cut the loch into two
parts, and raised the water level of the upper part
(the Loch o' the Lowes) so that it drains across the
lowest part of the encroaching delta to the lower sheet of
water (St Mary's). The Megget is also extending its
delta towards the shore below Bowerhope hill, the distance
between the two shores being now only a quarter of a
mile. In time, therefore, there will be three lochs
Entrance to St Mary's Loch
St Mary's Loch
(Delta formation at Cappercleuch]
22 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
instead of two. The lochs are remarkably free from
vegetation :
" nor fen nor sedge
Pollute the pure lake's crystal edge,
Abrupt and sheer the mountains sink
At once upon the level brink."
The tableland between Ettrick and Teviot has a chain
of small lakes representing evidently an ancient river bed.
Some of them contain deposits of shell marl. These are
Kingside Loch, between Selkirk and Roxburgh ; Crooked
Loch, a mile further east ; Clearburn Loch ; Hellmuir
Loch ; Shaws Lochs (Upper and Under) ; Alemuir Loch.
Another row of lochs parallel with these extends for a
distance of six or seven miles through Ashkirk, north-
wards to Selkirk — Shielswood Loch, Essenside Loch,
Headshaw Loch, and the Haining Loch. The Haining
Loch is an example of a loch tending to disappear through
the growth of vegetation. A fresh-water weed, not met
with in any other British lake, was discolouring the loch
and threatening to fill it up. In 1911 an attempt was
made to kill the weed by a solution of sulphate of copper,
and so far the experiment has been successful. Cauldshiels
Loch, three-eighths of a mile long, one-eighth of a mile
wide, 80 feet deep and 780 feet above sea-level, is situated
near the boundary line between Selkirk and Roxburgh,
with Abbotsford Estate on one of its sides.
The lochs in Peeblesshire are neither so numerous nor
so large as those in Selkirkshire. Gameshope Loch, in the
very heart of the Peeblesshire wilds, is the highest sheet
of water in the south of Scotland, being between 1750
WATERSHED RIVERS LOCHS 23
and 2OOO feet above sea-level. Talla Reservoir is an
artificial barrier loch, forming one of the Edinburgh and
District supplies. The surface area of the Reservoir when
full is 300 acres ; the daily quantity of water available is
ten million gallons. Slipperfield Loch, near Broomlee
station, i^ miles in circumference and 845 feet above
sea-level, is an example of a lake formed in the upper or
stratified drift common in the hills between Linton and
Dolphinton, where sand and gravel undulate into hum-
mocky and conical forms and sometimes, as here, enclose
pools of water. Portmore Loch, 1000 feet above sea-
level, is surrounded by the beautiful woods of Portmore.
The North Esk Reservoir, on the boundary between
Midlothian and Peebles, and about one mile north of
Carlops, supplies Edinburgh and District with water.
6. Geology.
Geology is the science that deals with the solid crust
of the earth ; in other words, with the rocks. By rocks,
however, the geologist means loose sand and soft clay as
well as the hardest granite. Rocks are divided into two
great classes — igneous and sedimentary. Igneous rocks
have resulted from the cooling and solidifying of molten
matter, whether rushing forth as lava from a volcano, or,
like granite forced into and between other rocks that
lie below the surface. Sometimes pre-existing rocks
waste away under the influence of natural agents as
frost and rain. When the waste is carried by running
24
water and deposited in a lake or a sea in the form of
sediment, one kind of sedimentary rock may be formed
— often termed aqueous. Other sedimentary rocks are
accumulations of blown sand : others are of chemical
origin, like stalactites : others, as coal and coral, originate
in the decay of vegetable and animal life. For con-
venience, a third class of rocks has been made. Heat,
or pressure, or both combined, may so transform rocks
that their original character is completely lost. Such
rocks, of which marble is an example, are called meta-
morphic.
The crust of the earth, in cooling, has contracted into
ridges and hollows. The ridges have been worn off and
sometimes turned over. Hence it is possible to examine
thousands of feet of the earth's crust from its upturned
edges. When one system of rock is laid down regularly
and continuously upon another the two systems are said to
be conformable. But if the rocks of the underlying system
have been elevated and tilted, or if its surface has been
worn away before the younger system has been deposited
upon it, the two systems are said to be unconformable.
From the order of the strata, from their conformity or
nonconformity, and from the characteristic fossils belong-
ing to the various divisions and sub-divisions, we learn
that the rocks of Peebles- and Selkirkshires belong to
the Palaeozoic or Primary group of rocks, that they are
younger than the Cambrian, and older than the Old Red
Sandstone and than the Coal Measures of the same group.
When a section of the earth's crust sinks down in
a gap or fracture so that the beds are displaced on each
GEOLOGY 25
side of the fracture the displacement is called a fault.
Two faults run north-east and south-west forming the
boundaries of the coalfields of Central Scotland. The
Southern Uplands lie to the south of the southern line
of fault. That is to say, the Old Red Sandstone and
Carboniferous strata of the Midlothian coalfield lie up
against the Ordovician of Peeblesshire (Fig. I, p. 26).
The surface of the Uplands is greatly wrinkled and
contorted. The ridges of strata are called anticlines, the
hollows, sync/ines, see Fig. 2 (p. 26) where o, o, are
anticlines, />, />, synclines. The anticlines may some-
times be so folded over that younger strata lie below
older. This has happened in the case of the Birkhill
Shales and has consequently made reading of the geological
record a difficult task.
In the Ordovician period the strata were laid down
in a sea which covered Wales and southern Scotland.
In this sea lived plants, and animals of simple form
like graptolites, trilobites, corals and starfish. It was a
period of intense volcanic activity, and igneous rocks
found their way through rents and fissures. A strip of
about seven miles broad in the north of Peeblesshire
belongs to the Ordovician (Lower Silurian) period. But
the greater part of Peeblesshire and the whole of Selkirk-
shire belong to the period which followed, namely, the
Silurian proper (Upper Silurian). This latter period was
characterized by the deposition of sediments and lime-
stones in a shallow, quiet, and wide spreading sea ; and
the life of the period marks a great advance on that of
the one previous. For certain forms of insects and fish,
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GEOLOGY 27
and the first representatives of the backboned animals,
now began to appear. Till 1852 it was thought that the
Silurian rocks of the district were destitute of fossils.
But James Nicol, son of the minister of Traquair,
showed that greywacke (the older name for Silurian rock)
was fossiliferous. Later, Lapworth, then a teacher at
Galashiels, established a distinction between the two
systems (Upper and Lower Silurian) ; and, because the
latter system is best developed in Wales, named it
Ordovician after an ancient Welsh tribe of that district.
After these rocks became land, the downthrow in the
trough fault of Central Scotland caused a ridging up of
the Southern Uplands into a real mountain range from
Girvan to Dunbar, so that the rocks of Peeblesshire, the
general dip or inclination of which is N.N.W., plunge in
that direction beneath the great Carboniferous basin of
southern Scotland not again to reappear till they emerge
in a much narrower band under the Grampians. In
course of time, however, these mountains of elevation
were worn down by sub-aerial forces and the process of
denudation was assisted by the fact that the strata of these
mountains were anticlines, that is to say, sloped away
from the axis of elevation (Fig. 3), whereas in mountains
built up of synclines, the strata would slope towards the
axis of elevation (Fig. 4) and the mountains would there-
fore be of more stable equilibrium.
The process may be further illustrated by Fig. 5 ;
from which we may see that the masses A, Cy E would
be gradually worn down to an undulating plain, which,
having been once more raised to a high plateau of about
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
3000 feet, the sub-aerial forces renewed their work with
increased vigour till the hills and valleys of the two
counties assumed practically their present outlines. In
this way the hills of Peebles and Selkirk became hills of
circumdenudation, i.e. they were, so to speak, dug out
not raised up like mountains of elevation. They also
became hills of synclinal formation like B and Z),
and their valleys valleys of erosion like c, c and £,
Fig. 3. Anticline
Fig. 5
A B C D E surface before, and a B c D e surface after long period
of denudation
where, as the erosion continued, the older rocks would
be exposed. Thus " the valleys were exalted and the
mountains were laid low."
After the Silurian Uplands had been raised the
Devonian and Old Red Sandstone strata began to be
deposited unconformably in inland seas and lakes bor-
dering on these uplands — unconformably, because the
strata of this mountainous surface had been contorted and
GEOLOGY 29
worn down before the Old Red Sandstone was deposited
upon it. It was thus that one formation, raised into dry
land, supplied the materials for the next and others in
succession. As the Ordovician and Silurian are therefore
older than the Old Red Sandstone and the systems that
followed it, a great gap exists in the geological history of
Peebles and Selkirk up till the glacial epoch, deposits of
which they have in abundance.
Graptolites from the Hartfell Shales, Mount Benger
Burn, Yarrow, Selkirkshire
(i Diplograptus foliaceus, 1 Climacograptus bicornis}
The fossils characteristic of the Ordovician and
Silurian systems are called graptolites from their re-
semblance to a quill pen. They belong to the order of
Hydrozoa. In the Silurian (Upper) the graptolites are
nearly all single forms, as, for example, the monograptus.
Branched forms as the Didymograptus and Diplograptus are
30 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
very common in the Ordovician, but quite unknown in
the Silurian system. Not only are systems distinguished
by their characteristic fossils, but the sub-divisions or
groups of systems are themselves distinguished in a similar
manner. There are three places in the south-western
borders of Peebles and Selkirk where fossils found in black
shaly formations could not be identified with the fossils
of the Silurian rocks found in the other parts as at
Galashiels, where Professor Lapworth first discovered
graptolites, and as at Grieston, where Nicol found many
specimens of the monograptus. These places were Birkhill,
Hart Fell and Glenkiln. Two of these groups were identi-
fied by means of their fossils with the groups of the Lower
Silurian in Wales and the other with the group imme-
diately above it and therefore as belonging to the Upper
Silurian.
The district in Selkirkshire where the outcrops of
Caradoc, Llandovery and Tarannon rocks (known as the
"Ettrick Band") may best be observed, extends from
Craigmichan Scaurs on the south-west of Capel Fell to
Berry Bush in Tushielaw Burn, and is bounded on the
north-west by the Yarrow and on the south-east by the
Ettrick : an area of fifteen miles long by two miles broad
and having upwards of fifty exposures. The line of separa-
tion between the Upper Silurian to the south-east and the
Lower Silurian or Ordovician to the north-west follows
the Kingledoors Burn to the Tweed, passes north of
Dawyck, west of Stobo, to the Lyne, crossing the Tweed
at its junction with that tributary. Passing north of
Peebles over Hamilton Hill behind Neidpath it extends
Graptolite (Monograptus Sedgwicki]
from Grieston Quarry, Peeblesshire
Graptolites (Afonograptits Griesfonensis)
from Grieston Quarry, Peeblesshire
32 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
along the southern slopes of Makeness Kipps, where,
making a return to form a lense-shaped bay, through
which flows Leithen Water, it strikes north across the
highroad between Innerleithen and Gorebridge, crosses
the Gala at Crookston and cuts through the Lammermuirs
to Whittinghame. North of the Ordovician area, the
rest of Peeblesshire lying north-west of the line of fault
(which practically follows the highway from Leadburn
to Skirling) including the upper portion of the Lyne
valley, belongs to the Old Red Sandstone formation.
Within the Silurian area a thin zone of limestone runs
across the valley of the Tweed from Winkston by Drum-
melzier south-west by Wrae and reappears a little further
on at Glencotho. What is perhaps a continuation of this
limestone appears at Kilbucho.
Igneous rocks, usually consisting of porphyries, syenites,
felstones and dolerites appear in dykes — i.e. vertical walls
of igneous rock — coincident as a rule with the direction
of the prevailing strike. The most prominent example of
felsite porphyry is a group of dykes near Innerleithen
on Priesthope Hill, the largest of which extends from
above St Ronan's Mill to beyond Grieston Quarry for
about 3^ miles. A section is exposed at Walkerburn.
A series of outcrops of lava of Arenig age, the oldest
exposed rock in the Southern Uplands, beginning beyond
Biggar stretches in echelon order along the line of fault
as far as Lamancha. These Arenig lavas form the
base of the Southern Uplands and would be found
anywhere in the region if one could bore deep enough.
They appear in the Southern Uplands because the oldest
GEOLOGY 33
Silurian rocks have been upheaved at intervals all the
way across from Ballantrae to the north of Peebles.
The base of the Arenig lavas has, however, never been
observed.
Many traces of glacial action and glacial drift occur
in Peebles and Selkirk, the most important being the
boulder-clay (i.e. the clay mixed with boulder stones
deposited by the ice-sheet during the Glacial Period),
the upper portion of which is often rudely stratified.
The lower boulder-clay was mostly swept out of the
valleys by the second glacier of this region, which left
deposits of boulder-clay thickest in the valleys, but it
is to be found up to a height of 1700 feet. It forms
sloping shelves or terraces more or less denuded. Examples
of these terraces, plateaux or banks, are to be found at
Tweedshaws, at Lyne, in the Leithen valley, where also
lower boulder-clay has been exposed with interbedded
sands and gravels, at Glendean in the Quair valley and at
Ettrick Toad Holes. Flutings, or markings due to glacial
action on the hill slopes and valleys, are to be seen at
Cademuir near Peebles, Kingledoors, Mossfennan, Drum-
melzier, near which stands Tinnis Castle, surrounded by
a fragmentary ravine parallel to the river. In Drummel-
zier Burn on the slope of Finglen Hill another fragment
of a water course seems to mark the bed of the stream
which flowed to Tinnis Castle. At Cardrona, Traquair,
and in Yarrow, these hollows or trenches of old water
courses are also to be found. Terraces formed of banks
of sand or gravel drift (left by glacial streams), called
" kames," are to be seen in Lyne, at Sheriffmuir near
p. P. s. 3
34 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Lyne, in the Meldon valley, and at West Linton.
Moraines (deposits left by glaciers) occur at Holylee,
where the highway cuts through a terminal moraine, and
in Manor, where a very striking series of moraines — one
primary and several secondary — form a noticeable feature.
In the same valley there is a roche moutonnee^ round which
the glacier cut its way so deeply that the engineers of the
Edinburgh Water Trust failed to find a bottom. There
are also moraines near Selkirk, and one, a fine example,
on the road to Corbie Linn. Erratic blocks transported
by glaciers are not found at a greater elevation than
noo feet, but they are numerous in the upper grounds
of Peebles and Selkirk.
The age and comparative softness of the rocks, the
long denudation to which they have been subjected, have
produced a striking absence of rugged masses. Another
effect of glacial action not so noticeable, perhaps, but
worth noting as a confirmation of the trend of the
Tweed glacier, is that the western and south-western
sides of the hills are always barer and steeper than the
opposites sides, due to the forces of glacial action by
which formation of " crag and tail " is produced.
7. Natural History.
The Southern Uplands from their inland and elevated
situation and the uniformity of their physical features
have a somewhat limited range of flora, while those
plants of the Alpine series that are found are classified
NATURAL HISTORY 35
as sub-Alpine. Such are scurvy grass, the white cloud-
berry in the black peat mosses of the Moorfoots, Yarrow
and Ettrick, the yellow, starry and mossy saxifrages, the
marsh thistle, monk's rhubarb, Alpine sedge, butterwort,
Festuca vivipara, Alpine club-moss and the Trientalis
Europea.
The hill pastures like the slopes of Cademuir gleam
with the tiny starry-eyed Helianthemumy often with the
yellow pansy as its neighbour. Further down, amongst
the purple "sclidders," or by the drystone dykes, the pink
foxglove shines vividly, sometimes amid masses of yellow
broom. In summer the wild roses and the hawthorn,
white and pink in summer, red as fire in winter, fringe
the roadway. In the quieter meadows where the hills
recede, or the current flows more gently, or in the dark
marshy pools of the woods, as at Rachan or Soonhope,
one comes upon the water forget-me-not or the rosebay
willow herb, white grass of Parnassus, the marsh valerian,
the queen of the meadow, and, very common in Tweed
valley, the water-crowfoot. In the woods, the primrose,
the wood-sorrel, the wood-anemone, and sometimes the
harebell, where the canopy is thin, may be seen in leaf
or flower.
Heather or ling is not uncommon, and white heather
is found at Cademuir, Horsburgh, and Crookston. With
the heather the red whortleberry (or Idaean vine) and
the blaeberry (or bilberry, — not so common as else-
where), are found on the heights; while the barberry,
green and gold in summer, and green and scarlet in
autumn, adorns the high hedges at Peebles, Linton,
3-2
36 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Rachan, and Yarrow. Cotton grass, called when young,
mosscrop, and when older, ling, is found in Ettrick and
makes white in summer the heathery tracts at Leadburn j
white bent, flying bent, stool bent, are all common on the
hills in Yarrow and Ettrick. The bracken on the hill
slopes and the curled rock brake are abundant.. Hart's
tongue and maidenhair fern are rare. The filmy fern is
found in Megget.
The trees that grew in the Ettrick Forest were the
birch, the Scots fir, the oak, the mountain ash, the alder,
the ash, the elm, the hazel. Those introduced are the
sycamore or plane tree, the larch, the spruce, and the
silver fir (eighteenth century). The "Fauldshope Oaks,"
the largest clump of natural-grown oak in Selkirkshire,
are small, gnarled, stunted trees, quite unlike the lofty
trees for which the Forest was famed. Some years ago
300 acres of the south slope of Bowhill were enclosed to
see if the indigenous trees would grow up. With few
exceptions all the trees that grew up were natives. The
oak, however, did not grow. The lessons that have
been drawn from this, the "Howbottom Experiment,"
are that the old forest of Ettrick was not a stately and
uniform growth of timber ; and that the valleys were
clothed with dense brushwood of hawthorn, birch and
sallow, while on the hillsides and above the lower growth
grew tall and noble trees of Scots fir, ash and oak.
The excavations at Newstead and the discoveries of
remains in peat mosses show that the elk, the red deer,
the roe, the wild boar, the fox, the badger, the wolf, and
the hare must have been more or less numerous in the
NATURAL HISTORY
37
area in the period of the Roman Invasion. The horse
was then represented by the forest pony (like the Shetland)
and the Celtic pony (like that of Exmoor). There were
two types of sheep, one with nearly upright, the other
Scots Pine
(Edston Farm, near Peebles)
with large, curved horns. Goats, apparently less common
then than sheep, are still found wild in Megget, and near
Hart Fell and Broad Law. The oxen of those times
apparently belonged to the small Celtic shorthorn species,
38 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
dark brown or black in colour with a red band on the
back. Remains of the urus or wild ox were found at
Lindean Loch in 1852, and at Whitmuir and Kerscleugh
in Selkirkshire. But the names of the hills and valleys
are adequate proof that the district was once haunted by
these wild animals. In Ettrick Forest occur such names
as Fawn's Law, Brock (Badger's) Hill, Earnsheugh
(Eagle's Cliff), Deer Law, Bear Craig, Wolfhope, Bucks-
cleuch, Swinebrae, Oxcleugh, Hartleap, Hyndhope, Gled-
cleugh (Hawkcliff).
In 1850 Sir John Hay introduced the fallow-deer to
the woods at Eshiels; and the roe-deer found in the
woods at Portmore and Dawyck is slowly working its
way down to the wooded areas of Ettrick and Selkirk.
The hill fox, often larger and greyer than in the lowlands,
is still dreaded by the shepherds for their lambs and by
the keepers for their pheasants. The brown rat, reported
to have been first seen in 1777, spread through Peebles to
Newlands by 1792; and by 1845 the black rat had dis-
appeared from Manor. Plagues of voles (the short-tailed
field vole) were so common from 1891 to 1893 in the
south-west of Scotland including the west of Selkirkshire
and Peeblesshire that a Royal Commission was appointed
to deal with them ; but before its report was ready, the
voles were exterminated by the buzzards and owls, the
tawny and the short-eared, which had collected in the
district in great numbers. The brown hare is com-
mon in the fields, and the variable, blue or Alpine hare
has spread over the whole area and beyond it since 1 846,
when it was introduced to the Manor district. The
NATURAL HISTORY 39
squirrel, at one time indigenous in the south, retired to
the north on the destruction of the ancient woods and
forests. In 1772 the Duchess of Buccleuch introduced
it at Dalkeith, whence it has spread all over the Tweed
area. It is specially destructive to young fir shoots. The
otter, though becoming rarer, is still hunted in the Tweed,
Yarrow, and Ettrick.
Peebles and Selkirk have not so many varieties of
birds as other counties, for there is no sea-coast, and most
of the area stands from 200 to 2000 above sea-level, and
is largely moorland. There are, notwithstanding, about
IOO species resident or migrant within the counties.
The thrush and the blackbird are plentiful. In the
hills the ring-ouzel, or hill blackbird, though nowhere
resident, takes the place of the merle. The whinchat
has markedly increased, mainly in Yarrow and Ettrick,
since 1904-5. The blackcap and garden-warbler are
found in Ettrick, Yarrow and Tweed ; while the sedge-
warbler, the "Scottish nightingale," has been decreasing
of late. But the chiff-chaff, the willow-wren, and the
redstart are fairly common summer visitors. Of the
wagtail family, the grey, the yellow, and the tree pippit
are known, the third being numerous in the Ettrick,
Yarrow, and Peebles hills, the second rare, having been
last seen at Tushielaw in 1889. There has been a de-
crease of late years in the number of swallows. They
used to be plentiful in Manor vale, where the cuckoo,
also plentiful, drove them out of their nests. Of the
finches the commonest is the chaffinch (Scots "Shilfa");
but the linnet (whinlintie), less common since the days of
40
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
advanced farming, and the goldfinch are not unknown.
The cross-bill has been seen at irregular intervals. The
two buntings, the yellow-hammer and the red bunting,
are common, while the snow bunting is a winter visitor in
Ettrick valley, and also at Stobo and West Linton. The
i Kingfisher, 2 Little Auk, 3, 4 Stormy Petrels
(All shot in Selkirk)
raven family breeds among the crags in Manor, Megget,
and St Mary's; the carrion crow in Dawyck Woods;
and the hooded or grey crow, locally confounded with
the carrion crow, near St Mary's Loch. The jay has
NATURAL HISTORY 41
been increasing since 1897, but the magpie and the skylark
have decreased in numbers. The night-jar, or goat-
milker, wrongly persecuted by the keepers, the great
spotted woodpecker, and the kingfisher are not unknown,
and a specimen of the hoopoe was killed at Edston near
Peebles in 1893.
Of birds of prey the owl is common in the area,
the white or barn owl at Newark, Manor and Stobo,
the long-eared owl in Ettrick. The tawny owl sometimes
makes its nests in the trees in the woods. In the twelfth
century high trees were left in Ettrick Forest for breeding
places for the falcons. The peregrine falcon still breeds
in the Traquair, Manor, and Tweedsmuir districts. A
golden eagle was killed at Gameshope in 1833. An im-
mature specimen of the osprey was shot at Cardrona in
1910. The buzzard may be seen every autumn in Peebles-
shire. A rough-legged buzzard was shot at the Glen in
1876 and one at Eshiels in 1910. Five years ago the
honey-buzzard was seen at Dawyck. The heron is
common in the Tweed valley, and heronries were, or
still are, to be found at the Haining, Cardrona, Portmore,
Tweedsmuir, and St Mary's.
Geese are frequent in the region of the lochs in Sel-
kirkshire, the commonest being the mallard, the golden
eye, the shoveller and the tufted duck, the two latter in
increasing numbers of late. The game birds, black
grouse and red grouse (muirfowl), the indigenous grouse
of Scotland, are common. The pheasant, often hand-
reared, is numerous in the valleys of the Tweed. Coveys
of partridges are common by the roadside. The " mud-
42 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
dwellers," the golden plover, the lapwing (peewit or pease-
weet), the curlew (whaup) haunt the lonely moors and
hills in summer. Others less frequently seen are the
common and the green sandpiper, while still more rarely
come the greenshanks, the redshanks, the grey phalarope,
and the stormy petrel. The common and the herring
gull haunt the towns near sewage-tainted streams and
garbage heaps. Black-headed gulls have colonies at
Whitemoss, Linton, the Haining, Kingside Loch, and
several mosses between Selkirk and Melrose.
In the Tweed and its tributaries trout and salmon
are caught. In the lochs are found trout, perch, pike,
and eels; and in the stream which joins the Loch o' the
Lowes and St Mary's ua curious fish" used to be caught
in the seventeenth century called ured-waimbs" (red-
bellies) with forked tail. They were never seen except
between Allhallows and Martinmas. Pennant in his Tour
(1769) tells how in visiting Moyhall in Inverness he
found Moy Lake full of trout and char, called in Scots
"Red Weems." Red-belly is a common dialectic term
for the char.
8. Climate and Rainfall.
By climate we mean the prevailing weather of a
country; by weather, the state and behaviour of the
atmosphere. These depend mainly upon temperature;
and temperature is determined by latitude, altitude, season,
CLIMATE AND RAINFALL 43
prevailing winds, and proximity to the sea. Bulk for
bulk, warm air is lighter than colder air; while water
vapour is twice as light as air. Hence dryness, as well as
temperature, affects the weight of the atmosphere. Warm
and dry air may therefore be heavier than colder air. Air
in motion will also naturally exercise less pressure than
stationary masses of air.
In an area of low pressure the wind flows outwards
in great spirals with a direction contrary to that of the
hands of a clock. Such a condition of low pressure is
called a cyclone. Cyclones accompany, like eddies in a
river, the great drift of westerly and south-westerly winds
which are the prevailing winds in our islands. From
barometric readings, therefore, collected from various
quarters, it is possible to plot out regions of cyclonic
disturbance and so to foretell changes and disturbances in
the weather. So also a region in which the pressure is
high will, generally speaking, be one towards which winds
will move in the same direction as the hands of a clock.
Such a condition of high atmospheric pressure is called an
anti-cyclone.
The region where the pressure is greatest in the
Northern Hemisphere is along latitude 35° N. ; and it
is this belt of high pressure that has most influence on
the climate of Great Britain, and, therefore, of Peebles
and Selkirk. From the region of high pressure streams
of air flow northwards to the North Pole and southwards
to the Equator. But owing to the rotation of the earth
from west to east, the winds become south-west winds
and north-west winds respectively. It is with the former
44 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
that we are concerned. These south-west winds, or
"variable westerlies," are the prevailing winds of Great
Britain, and consequently of Peebles and Selkirk. Records
of winds give the following percentages for west, south-
west, and south winds in Selkirkshire : Tinnis, for 25 years,
53-4 ; Bowerhope, near St Mary's, for 10 years, 60*9 ;
Thirlestane, for three years, 60*5 ; and in Peeblesshire,
at Stobo Castle, for five years, 51*39.
Seeing that the "westerlies" blow from a region of
high pressure to one of low pressure they are said to
follow the fall of the barometric gradient. That is to
say, the winds should cut the lines of equal pressure at
right angles, but, owing to the earth's rotation the winds
are deflected, and so they cut the isobars at an acute angle.
Roughly speaking, therefore, the isobars coincide in
direction with that of the prevailing winds. The most
important point to notice in connexion with the isobars
is that as they pass over the Irish sea and St George's
Channel, they curve downwards, and, as they pass over
land, they curve upwards, the curve increasing in pro-
portion to the width of the passage over the sea, or over
the land.
The pressure within the counties is greatest in May
and June, mostly in the latter month, and least in
October. The barometer over a period of 40 years has
stood highest at Galashiels with an average of 29*953,
compared with readings taken at North Esk, the Glen,
Stobo, Bowhill. The following table gives the average
barometric pressure for 40 years (1856-95) with the
average rainfall for the 40 years (1871-1910). It will
CLIMATE AND RAINFALL
45
be seen that the pressure and temperature vary indirectly,
and the rainfall directly as the elevation: —
Place
Height
Yearly Average
Press.
Temp.
Rain
Vorth Esk Reservoir
1150
29-871
43'4
39-76
Ihe Glen ....
765
29-876
44'7
40-60
stobo
600
29-874
45'3
38-03
Bowhill 548
29'875
45'o
33'97
Gala
416
29-877
Other causes than that of elevation may, of course, have
determined these means, and the lower temperature of
Bowhill is no doubt due to a more south-westerly ex-
posure than Stobo; but the regularity of the variation is
sufficiently striking.
Since the sun is the predominating influence which
determines annual temperature, the isothermals — lines of
equal temperature — will follow mainly an east and west
course, and the temperature will decrease as we pass
northwards. The average rate of decrease in Great
Britain is one degree for every 116 geographical miles.
The "westerlies" bring heat and moisture to our shores,
and, without the influence of the surrounding sea and
these warm south-west winds, the climate of Great Britain
would be so extreme that in January the temperature of
Peebles would be equal to that of Greenland, or, in other
words, drop 20°. Peebles and Selkirk being inland counties
do not benefit to the same extent from these warm
westerlies as the western seaboard counties. Edinburgh,
46 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
although lying to the north, has a mean annual tempera-
ture 2° higher than that of Peebles and Selkirk, due to
the proximity of Edinburgh to the sea; and to the
greater elevation of Peebles and Selkirk, the temperature
falling, on an average, i° for every 270 feet of elevation.
Within the counties themselves the variations in tem-
perature depend mainly upon elevation and situation as
regards the "westerlies." The highest stations will be
the coldest, and the most westerly, other conditions
remaining the same, the warmest.
The average annual rainfall of the British Isles is
about 39^ inches. The driest part of the year in Scotland
is generally April. The heaviest period of rainfall in
Scotland is more irregular, occurring sometimes in winter
and sometimes in summer. In Peebles and Selkirk, taking
the results of 26 stations in 1909, we find that 14 places
had their lowest rainfall in November. In 1910, out of
28 stations, all had their lowest rainfall in September.
In 1909, out of 26 stations, 22 had their greatest rainfall
in October. In 1910, out of 28, 17 had their greatest
rainfall in August. North Esk reservoir with a record of
40 years gives a mean rainfall of 39*76 inches. The Glen
for 2O years gives 40*60 inches ; and the stations on the
Talla catchment area for 15 years give from 62*70 at
Talla Linns Foot up to 75*17 inches at Gameshope Farm.
The highest mean fall in Selkirkshire is Borthwick Brae,
with 44*29. The map shows very clearly that the
average rainfall increases with altitude and with degree
of exposure to the "westerlies." But the influence of
position with respect to hills is greater than that of altitude.
Cambridge Vniv,
Rainfall Map of Scotland
(By Andrew Watt, M.A.)
48 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
In Peeblesshire and Selkirkshire the hills in the 6o-inch
zone are the highest in the Southern Uplands. The
whole south-western portion of Selkirk, including Ettrick
village and St Mary's Loch, lies within the 5o-inch zone.
Peebles and Selkirk, therefore, have a less rainfall than
the Western Highlands; but they have a greater rainfall
than all the eastern counties of Scotland from Roxburgh
to Sutherland. Most of the south of Scotland has a rain-
fall exceeding 40 inches, whereas roughly one-third of
Scotland is embraced within the 30- to 4O-inch zone.
The crowding of the isohyets indicates a rapid change
from one zone to another; and from the Grey Mare's
Tail to Jedburgh, a distance of only 30 miles, we pass
through five different zones of from 60 to 30 inches. As
most of the river valleys run from south-west to north-
east, the rain-bearing winds will bring moisture to both
sides. Hence the hills are "the greenest that e'er the sun
shone on." A Yarrow legend that the deluge came from
the south-west, is no doubt due to the fact that all great
rain storms and floods would come from that quarter.
9. People — Race. Language. Popula=
tion.
Before and after the Roman invasion, successive waves
of immigration passed over the Southern Uplands — Celtic
Goidels, Celtic Brythons, Angles, Norsemen. The in-
habitants prior to the first Celtic arrival are known as
Iberians. Each wave of immigration influenced the
PEOPLE— RACE. LANGUAGE, ETC. 49
population, and a striking result of this is seen in the
place-names of Peebles and Selkirk. Gaelic and Cymric
(i.e. British), English and Norse appear ; Gaelic rare,
Cymric common, while, since some roots are the same in
English and Norse, the Norse element has perhaps been
under-estimated. Gaelic are drum, cnoc, ra, as in Drum-
melzier, Knockknowes, Rachan; Cymric are caer, tin,
pen, tor, tra, dre, as in Cardrona, Linton, Lee Pen, Tor-
wood, Traquair, Dreva; common to Gaelic and Cymric
are cad, loch, pol, as in Caddon, Polmood. Most of the
river-names are Cymric, as Tweed, Fruid, Talla, Manor,
Leithen, Yarrow, Tima. Cymric names are remarkable
for their melody, as is clear from the rhythm of the
following couplet formed of place-names in order of
locality :
" Garlavin, Cardon, Cardrona, Caerlee,
Penvenna, Penvalla, Trahenna, Traquair."
English roots are ton, stead, cote, burgh, worth, heugh, law,
edge, knowe, mount, head: Norse are grain (a branching
river or river valley), scaur, myre, hope (valley), fell, rig
(hill), holm, by. Sometimes a name has elements with the
same meaning from different tongues — a sign of mixture
of peoples — as Knockknowes (Celtic and English), Ven-
lawhill (Celtic and two layers of English). Norse words
in common use, now or formerly, are awns (spikes of
barley), big (build), bygg (barley), gar, gimmer, leister, ling,
lowe (flame).
This district being for centuries part of the Anglian
kingdom of Northumbria, its language is descended from
p. P. s. 4
50 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
that form of Northern English which came to be known
as Lowland Scots. While many linguistic features are
common to Peebles and Selkirk, each shire has certain
peculiarities of its own, which tend more and more to
disappear. The Selkirk speech, however, is the more
distinctive. The reason apparently is that Ettrick and
Yarrow districts owing to their geographical situation
were less affected by the speech of the Scottish Court,
and therefore by English and French influences, than
Peebles. Peebles belongs to the dialect division known
as Eastern Mid-Lowland, and Selkirk to that known as
South Lowland.
The Selkirk dialect, probably the most direct de-
scendant of the old Anglian speech, is characterised by
a great variety of diphthongs and by its softness and
flexibility of intonation. The distinctions are as follows:
final u tends to become a diphthong. Peeblesshire coo in
Selkirk is nearer cuw or English cow . Words like see, me,
we, he, dee (die) become sey, mey, wey, etc. Peebles "you
an' me '11 poo a pea " becomes in Selkirk " yow an' mey
'11 puy a pey." Words like bore and foal are diphthongized
into buore and fuol ; words like name, dale, tale are pro-
nounced neh-um, deh-ul, teh-ul. When the diphthongs uo
(or long vowel 0) and ea occur at the beginning of a word
or are preceded by h, the first develops into wu and the
second into ye. Orchard is wurtshet; hole is hwull; whole
\shyel; oats is yetts ; oneisyin; earl is yerl '; home is hyem ;
sky is skyi ; sword is pronounced with the w. Finally
the South Lowland is distinguished by its broad pro-
nunciation of the vowel in men, which sounds like a in
PEOPLE— RACE. LANGUAGE, ETC. 51
man. Penny is thus pronounced like panny^ while a as
in battle is often pronounced as o in bottle : even educated
persons sometimes pronounce a in English father 'as father.
The total population of Scotland at the last census
was 4,759,445, 2,307,603 males, and 2,451,842 females,
Popn
50000
45000
40000
35000
30000
25000
yoooo
15000
10000
5000
Curves showing the comparative growth of the populations
of Peebles, Selkirk, Berwick and Roxburgh Shires
or io6'2 females to 100 males. The figures for Peebles
are: males 7067, females 8191, total 15,258; or 114*4
females to 100 males; and for Selkirk: males 11,332,
females 13,268, or 117-08 females to 100 males. Peebles
4—2
52 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
has 43*93 persons to the square mile. Only five counties
have a less density. Selkirk has 91-82 persons to the
square mile ; and eighteen counties have a less density.
The increase of the population within the last 100 years
has been greatest in the case of Selkirk. This is due to
the fact that it was at Galashiels and Selkirk that the
Tweed industry had its origin, reaching its greatest
development between 1861 and 1881.
Peebles occupies a medium position between a rural
and practically non-industrial county like Berwick, and
an industrial district like that of Selkirk or of Roxburgh,
the one with the busy manufacturing town of Galashiels,
the other with that of Hawick.
10. Agriculture.
In the latter part of the eighteenth century a period
of agricultural improvement began throughout Scotland.
In our two counties improved methods of arable farming
rapidly developed in the West Linton district ; and further
down the Tweed enterprising farmers ploughed land
on hillsides which it would have been better to keep in
pasture. Sheep farming also felt the impetus ; and about
1785 the Cheviot sheep introduced on the hills of Peebles
and Selkirk began to oust the Black-faced breed, while
about 1845 a tremendous impulse was given to sheep
farming in the district by the great development of the
Tweed trade at Galashiels, Selkirk and Hawick. Since
that time the tendency on the whole has been to withdraw
AGRICULTURE
53
land from arable farming and turn it into pasture, and for
small holdings to disappear.
The following table gives the areas devoted to various
purposes, with the percentage that each area bears to the
whole.
Peebles Selkirk
Total land
area
f —
acres
222,240
— \
Percentage to
total land area
f
acres
170,793
Percentage to
total land area
Arable
' 27,500
iz'37
16,000
9'36
Permanent
grass
21,000
9'44
i 2,300
7-20
Mountain
and heath
for pasture
159,000
7 1 "54
i33>7oo
78-3
Woodland
1 1,300
5-10
5,200
3'04
Land
otherwise
occupied
3,440
i'55
3,593
2'10
Total
222,240
lOO'O
170,793
lOO'O
Arable land has been ploughed as far up as 900 to
IOOO feet and wheat has been grown in Selkirkshire at
a height of 700 feet. Since 1834 the area under the
plough in Peebleshire has decreased, that in Selkirkshire
increased, while in both the area under wood has been
practically doubled.
The common rotation for crops in the counties is
(i) corn (oats), (2) turnips or potatoes, (3) oats (or barley)
sown with grass, (4) (5) (6) grass.
Owing, however, to its high elevation and moist
climate the area is unsuited generally for the growth
of cereals. But oats, turnips, grass and hay are readily
54 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
grown. Wheat is practically unknown, while barley and
potatoes are grown only to a trifling extent. Clover,
sainfoin and rotation grasses are the largest crop in both
counties : in Peebles 15,812 acres, in Selkirk, 8335. The
total product of hay of all kinds for 1911 was in Peebles
6457 tons, the acreage being 5017, in Selkirk 3211 tons,
the acreage being 3013 ; in each case the proportion
of natural to artificial hay was about one half. The
connexion between these cultivations and sheep farming
is apparent ; they can all be utilized for feeding purposes.
Mixed farming, however, is supposed to be more economical
for the simple reason that what is lost in the one depart-
ment may be made good in the other. But the principal
farming industry is sheep-rearing. Hill farmers breed to
sell lambs; farmers lower down, while doing the same, also
buy lambs for feeding purposes to sell in winter or spring.
In the time of James IV the total number of sheep
in Ettrick Forest was 10,000 — an extraordinary number
it was then considered to be. But the Forest now bears
eighteen times as many, the numbers for 1912 being:
Sheep Peebles Selkirk
Ewes breeding 89,427 81,259
Other sheep one year and over 23,662 19,343
Under one year 83,141 75>436
Total 196,230 176,038
About eighty years ago (1832) a fair estimate for Peebles
would be 102,000, for Selkirk seventy to eighty thousand,
or less than half of the present number.
AGRICULTURE 55
Female sheep, from six to eighteen months old, kept
for breeding, are called hogs; the next year gimmers; the
fourth season young ewes ; the fifth, and thereafter, old
ewes; the males for fattening are called wedders; the
others tups or rams.
The "Black-faced," "Tweed-dale," or "Forest" breed
are horned, with black faces, black legs and coarse wool ;
compact, short legged, round bodied with rising forehead,
and "kindly" feeders, that is, taking kindly to their
pasture. The Cheviot breed was introduced in 1785 as
the best adapted of the fine-woolled sheep for high, bleak
situations. Hogg, " the Ettrick shepherd," fiercely
opposed their introduction, lamenting that the black-
faced "ewie wi' the crookit horn" should be banished from
its native hills for those " white-faced gentry." Its
introduction led to the planting of firwoods and the
building of "stells" for shelter: noticeable features in the
pastoral farms of the district. But in Peeblesshire, since
1864, owing to the losses of 1859-60, the Black-faced
variety has been reverted to, the proportion in Peeblesshire
now being three to two. In Selkirkshire, however, the
sheep above one year are in the proportion of two-thirds
Cheviots, one-quarter Black-faced, and the remainder
Half-breds.
Before the days of sheep dip the wool had to be
"smeared" or "salved" with tar1 and butter. Farmers
who advocated other methods were characterized as
1 Sir Walter Scott had only one song, it was said, in his repertoire :
"Tarry 'oo is ill to spin."
This he used to sing at the Selkirkshire Pastoralists' Association.
56
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
" ignorant, inexperienced and revolutionary reforming
farmers." Sheep farmers are now bound by the Regula-
tions of the Board of Agriculture to have all their sheep
dipped twice a year within certain specified dates.
Sheep are not shorn of their fleece till they are sixteen
months old, and thereafter they are shorn every year,
Sheep-shearing at Henderland Farm, Megget
generally in July. The washing generally takes place
from five to six days before the shearing, but as a rule the
black faces are not washed. Their wool is sold " in the
grease," in which condition it is said to keep better in
transit, and the grease in the wool is manufactured into
the by-product called " lanoline." The fleeces must be
carefully tied up and all refuse kept out of the wool.
AGRICULTURE 57
Cheviot wool is rolled up with the inside of the fleece
outwards, and black-faced wool with the outside out.
Hog wool is more valued than wedder wool.
The "clip," of course, varies. But in 1905 the
average weight for Peeblesshire was 4! Ibs. for ewes, and
for other sheep 5^ Ibs. ; for Selkirk 4 Ibs. for ewes, and
4| Ibs. for other sheep. The difference in weight between
a washed and an unwashed fleece varies from I Ib. to
ii Ib., while the washed black- faced fleece is lighter than
that of the Cheviot.
Sheep are subject to certain diseases, the most prevalent
being " Braxy " and the " Louping 111 " ; the former
a species of inflammation, the latter of paralysis. The
season for braxy is November to February, and in Peebles,
Selkirk and Roxburgh the mortality from this disease
sometimes reaches 25 per cent. The districts most affected
are the hilly regions in the heart and in the south-west of
Peeblesshire, a stretch of hilly country on the boundary
line between Peebles and Selkirk and also stretching south-
eastwards along the boundary line between Selkirk and
Roxburgh.
The heather on sheep farms is burned once in nine
years and new heather is ready to eat in three or four
years ; if the ground is mossy it may be in two years.
Young heather is best both for farmer and sportsman.
For long heather is of no use for cover unless the birds
have also young heather to feed on. Hence some farmers
contend that the proportion of young to long heather
should be greater than it is. The dates for burning
the heather are loth December to loth April, failing
58 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
which application must be made to the landlord for special
permission by the sheriff to have the time extended to the
25th April.
By 1714 Ettrick forest was completely denuded of its
oaks. Then began an era of planting, which almost
became a mania. Towards the close of the century, when
Wordsworth with his sister Dorothy visited the district
and found the
" Noble brotherhood of trees "
at Neidpath Castle cut down by the "Degenerate Douglas,"
they also found that a noticeable feature in the landscape
was the raw new plantations surrounding a number of
newly built mansion houses. The northern portion of
Peeblesshire — containing the parishes of West Linton,
Newlands, Eddleston, Lyne, Peebles and Traquair, with
an area of 1 16,175 acres — has 6955^ acres, or 6'O per cent,
under wood, while the parishes of Tweedsmuir, Broughton,
Skirling, Kirkurd, Drummelzier, and Manor with an area
of 106,424 acres have only 437of acres or 4'! per cent,
under wood.
In Selkirkshire the parishes of Caddonfoot, Galashiels,
Yarrow and Selkirk, amounting to 92,412 acres, have
3989! acres or 4-3 per cent, under wood, while the
parishes of Ashkirk, Ettrick, and Kirkhope, containing
78,349 acres, have only 1303! acres or i-6 per cent,
under wood. Peebles is therefore nearly twice as well
wooded as Selkirk, but is itself about three times less
well wooded than the best-wooded districts of Scotland.
Dawyck woods planted by Sir James Naesmyth, assisted it
is said by Linnaeus, whose pupil he was, cover some
AGRICULTURE
59
2800 acres and are amongst the most famous woods in
the south of Scotland. Other well-known woods are to
be found at Stobo, Haystoun, Bowhill, the Haining and
Hangingshaw. The trees planted for economic purposes
are mainly the Douglas pine (which is extensively planted),
Oldest Larch in Scotland
(Planted at Kailzie by Sir James Naesmyth of Posso in 1725)
the Scots fir, the clear pine, the larch, and the sycamore
(Scots plane tree).
A special cultivation of interest is found in the vineries
of Clovenfords. Established in 1868, the vineries and
plant-houses cover nearly six acres and are heated by
60 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
some six miles of pipes. They produce annually about
15,000 pounds of grapes, the best-flavoured being the
Duke of Buccleuch, raised by the founder, who was the
Duke's gardener. Tomatoes, cucumbers, melons, palms,
araucarias, dracaenas and aspidistras are grown as well as
grapes.
ii. The Manufacture of Wool.
In a district famous for sheep, the chief manufacture is
naturally that of wool. At one time Selkirk was famous
for its shoemaking. The " Souters," however, with their
"single-soled shoon" have long since disappeared. "Single-
soled shoon" were brogues with a single thin sole, the
purchaser himself sewing on another of thick leather.
" Souter " has continued to be the distinctive appellation
of the inhabitants of Selkirk. The quaint ceremony of
" licking the birse " is still performed by the recipient of
the honorary freedom of the Burgh, the " birse " being
the bristles with which shoemakers point their " lingles "
or thread, and the licking being performed by dipping the
bunch in wine and then drawing it through the lips.
In 1587 Parliament passed an Act to encourage the
settlement of Flemish craftsmen and the employment
of Scottish apprentices. About this time, also, we find
the first mention of the manufacture of wool at Galashiels,
which then had two " wauk " mills. By the seventeenth
century three mills were busy felting or milling the webs
made from the wool of the district and spun by the women
in their houses. The thieves of Liddesdale held the
THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOL 61
Galashiels "hodden grey" in high repute. During the
days of the Civil War numerous acts were passed to
encourage woollen manufacture in Scotland. The Board
of Manufactures in 1728 appointed in Galashiels, Hawick,
Jedburgh, Peebles, and Lauder, persons skilled in sorting,
stapling and washing coarse, tarred wool. Each received
a salary of ^20 and also utensils. These grants were
continued to the woollen trade till 1840. In 1835
Galashiels manufacturers built mills in Selkirk ; about
1850 the first cloth-mill was established in Peebles;
and thereafter the trade took root in Innerleithen and
Walkerburn.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century the kind
of cloth manufactured was shepherd tartan, of which
travelling cloaks were made. Trousers were made of the
same pattern, and Sir Walter Scott's may still be seen at
Abbotsford. Mr Dickson of Peebles manufactured trousers
of the plaid pattern for the London market, and the only
variation of pattern attempted was the size of the black
and white check. Then checks of black and brown were
introduced and other colours tried. Following the checks,
twills were tried, and new combinations of colours
followed. Every change gave the trade a fresh impetus,
and Scottish fancy woollens became the fashion. The
local supply of wool proved inadequate, even though a
corresponding development took place in pastoral farming ;
and in 1834 fine wool was imported from abroad. Within
six years four-fifths of the wool was imported — at first the
fine merino of the continent, but soon the more suitable
wool of the colonies was employed.
62 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
From the 400,000 sheep in the district the yield
of unwashed wool is upwards of 2,000,000 Ibs. As the
district probably possesses more sheep per acre than any
other region in the world, it is not difficult to understand
why the Scotch Tweed trade should find its home in the
valleys of the Tweed and its tributaries. But, great
though the home supply is, it is insufficient to meet more
than one-tenth of the trade requirements.
There are 43 woollen mills, using annually about
1 8 million Ibs. of raw wool, valued at over ^£1, 000,000
sterling. These mills contain 200 sets of carding machines,
about 160,000 mule spindles, and 1900 power looms,
employing altogether about 7500 workpeople, earning, it
is estimated, ^375,000 in wages per annum. The capital
sunk in the woollen industry of the two counties will
exceed two millions sterling. Fully 60 per cent, of
the Scotch Tweed produced is manufactured in the
counties of Peebles and Selkirk.
The Scotch Tweed manufacturers have always been
strong supporters of technical education. In 1883 classes
for instruction in the technique of manufacture were
commenced in Galashiels under the auspices of the
Manufacturers' Corporation. In later years the classes
attained a remarkable degree of success and their good
work was so appreciated that, when the manufacturers
were invited to contribute towards a scheme for a Technical
College for the south of Scotland, a sum of .£11,000 was
readily forthcoming, which, augmented by an equivalent
grant from Government, enabled the promoters to erect
a college worthy of the traditions and importance of the
Power Looms
Warping Machines
(March Street Mills, Peebles)
64
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
woollen trade. Galashiels has become a name to conjure
with throughout the world not only on account of the
excellence of its " Tweed," but also on account of the
skill of its Tweed designers, and in consequence many
Borderers are to be found all over England, Ireland,
Technical College, Galashiels
Europe, America, and the colonies holding high positions
in woollen mills.
The kinds of cloth manufactured in Galashiels, Selkirk,
and Peebles vary from time to time, and it may happen
that while trade is busy in one town or in one manufac-
tory of a town, it is extremely slack in another town or
THE MANUFACTURE OF WOOL 65
factory. The staple manufacture of the district, however,
is Cheviot cloths suitable for sport and motoring and out-
of-doors wear, Saxony and worsteds not lending them-
selves to the make-up of garments for such purposes.
It will be seen, therefore, that in the Tweed manufac-
ture a great deal depends upon the readiness with which
the manufacturer can anticipate and supply the popular
taste.
The origin of the word " Tweed " in its industrial
sense is interesting. In the early part of the nineteenth
century a considerable trade in Scotch " Tweels " had
sprung up with London merchants. In 1826 a firm in the
south of Scotland consigned a quantity of these goods to a
leading woollen warehouseman in London. The invoice
clerk by a slip transformed " Tweels " into " Tweeds " ;
and the merchant, thinking this an appropriate designation,
repeated more "Tweeds." The name and cloth caught
the public favour, and " Tweed " is now the accepted
trade description throughout the world.
12. Minerals.
Except in north-west Peeblesshire, no rocks of economic
value occur in the two counties ; unless greywacke
(whinstone), useful for building and for road-making, may
be so regarded. Before the period of tree-planting,
whinstone was much in evidence as stone-wall fences.
The whinstone being a stratified rock splits readily with a
clean fracture. It has undergone many contortions, which
p. P. s. 5
66 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
render it difficult to deal with for building purposes, but
the stonemasons of the district are famous for their skill in
its manipulation, producing as they do with only a hammer
and trowel beautifully-faced walls. Freestone abounds in
the carboniferous tracts, white and yellow as at Carlops,
chocolate-coloured as at West Linton. In the Dod Wood
at Kirkurd are numerous old and new quarries of white
and red sandstone, where the red stone of the buildings at
Lyne Camp were probably obtained. Previous to 1841,
before the geological record was thoroughly understood,
the carbonaceous shales of coal and limestone were wrought
at Carlops ; and not so long ago a coal pit was worked at
Macbie Hill, where still a little mining is done. Attempts
were also made to find coal at Lindean and Galashiels ;
and anthracite was said to have been got at Grieston and
Caddonfoot. But these attempts were bound to fail,
because the sandstones, the limestone, and the millstone
grit of the West Linton district all lie beneath the coal
measures, which are naturally thickest in the middle of
their hollow basin, and thinnest at the upturned edges.
Such coal as is found in the district will be " edge coal " ;
while " anthracite " found in Silurian strata is either black
shale or has been formed from quantities of embedded
animal matter.
Lead used to be worked on the Medwyn in the
sixteenth century, and the excavations are now called
"Silver Holes " from the fact that silver was once obtained
there. In the seventeenth century a lead mine was said
to exist on the north side of Selkirk, at the head of the
Linglie Burn, and a silver mine at Windy Neil. Lead
MINERALS 67
has also been mined for at the Bold Burn, at Grieston, at
Windlestrae, at Kershope in Yarrow, and at Innerleithen,
where smelting furnaces were discovered four feet beneath
the surface in the churchyard. Gold is said to have been
found in Henderland, in Glengaber, and Mount Benger
Burns, in the reign of James V. A specimen from
Glengaber Burn is preserved in the Peebles Museum.
Gold is also recorded as having been obtained in the
Douglas Braes at Douglas Craig and in Linglie Burn.
The Regent Morton had a contract for working gold
at Henderland. But the enterprise was unsuccessful.
Veins of haematite occur here and there in Silurian rock.
At Noble House a bed of red haematite shale lies among
the green shales of the district, and was worked some
twenty years ago. Iron pyrites occur at Bowerhope, and
oxide of iron is found in many of the mosses. Silurian
shales have often been worked for slate, as at Stobo and
Grieston quarries. Out of the former many of the houses
in old Edinburgh are said to have been roofed. These
quarries are no longer worked, either because they are
exhausted, or because better material is now more easily
obtained. The felsite near Innerleithen has been used for
making curling stones. Lime quarries are common in
the West Linton district ; and lochs in Selkirk have
sometimes been drained for their marl, a mixture of lime
and clay, invaluable to the farmer.
Mineral springs are fairly numerous. A century ago
the well-known chalybeate spring at Innerleithen made
the village a fashionable summer-resort and furnished Sir
Walter Scott with a setting for his romance, St Ronan's.
5-2
68
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Well. This spring used to be known as the "Doo Well"
because of the pigeons that flocked to it. A sulphurous
spring at Castlecraig had the reputation of being stronger
than that of Moffat. At Rutherford near Carlops there
is a chalybeate well, " Heavenly Aqua " ; another,
" Philip's Well," at Catslacknowe in Selkirk ; and two
at Bowerhope. Calcareous springs have been found in
fifteen different places in Yarrow.
St Ronan's Well, Innerleithen
Alluvium peat is found in many of the hills, as is
shown by the not uncommon designation of " Peat Law."
The hills of Manor, the Moorfoots, and Auchencorth
Moss, near Leadburn, are the best known districts for
peat. Experiments were made in the compression of
peat by the minister of Traquair about 1834 ; but, owing
MINERALS 69
to railway extension and the cheapening in the price
of coal, the digging of peat is now confined to the remoter
districts amongst the hills.
13. Fishing.
For salmon, grilse or sea-trout few rivers can surpass
the Tweed. Though not free from impurities near the
manufacturing centres, it may on the whole be designated
a clear, clean river. It is fairly free from rocks and
overhanging woods, while its gravelly bottom with loose
stones of moderate size, is suitable for spawning, and
furnishes abundant and suitable feeding for the fish. The
river, neither swift nor sullen, but with complete and
uninterrupted charm for the angler, ripples in silvery
streams from pool to pool.
Trout fishing, except near the towns, where it is
overdone, is good ; and salmon fishing in its season, from
Peebles to Berwick, is excellent. Par and smolts are
illegal capture till the first of June, and the close season
lasts from October to January inclusive. Neither trout
nor salmon fishing is quite so good as formerly — due no
doubt to extensive drainage, causing the flood waters now
to run ofF in days instead of in weeks ; to poaching ; and
to fishing out of season. An Angling Improvement
Association has been formed at Peebles to check the two
latter evils ; and certain proprietors in the district who
proposed to close their waters have now leased them to
the Association, which controls a stretch of water from
70 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Manor Bridge to the march at Elibank, between Peebles
and Selkirk. Throughout its 100 miles Tweed has 316
named Salmon casts; 55 casts from "Inch" three miles
above Peebles to "Kameknowehead" near Elibank. The
remaining 261 casts from "Kameknowehead" to "Low
Bend on the Tweed near Yair
Bells" near Berwick are either let, or in the hands of the
proprietors.
The principal tributaries and sub-tributaries — most of
them interesting and picturesque — in which good angling
may be had, are Cor, Fruid, Gameshope, Hearthstone,
Holms, Kingledoors, Menzion, Polmood, Stanhope, Talla,
Lyne, Tarth, Manor, Quair. The Peebleshire Lochs
FISHING 71
are not of much account ; but mention may be made of
Portmore (pike, perch, trout), Gameshope, Slipperfield
(pike and perch but no trout), Talla Reservoir, and North
Esk Reservoir.
Yarrow, surpassing Tweed in poetical and romantic
lore, approaches it in fishing fame. Beyond the rocks
and trees, there are some fine casts ; as Levinshope Burn
to Deuchar Mill ; from Sundhope for a mile up (the best
angling part of Yarrow) ; Eldinhope Burn and the
Douglas Burn, tributaries on the left. St Mary's Loch,
an expansion of Yarrow, can be fished all round the shore.
In this loch the trout are in the majority, but pike and
perch are on the increase. In the Loch o' the Lowes
there, were no trout twenty years ago, but now there are
a few, mainly on the south shore and superior in quality
to those of St Mary's, while the pike as edible fish are
superior to those taken elsewhere and often attain a great
size. Kirkstead, Glengaber and Winterhope Burns are
good trouting streams. The Ettrick is a salmon stream.
But trout are hard to catch. The best angling part is
from Tushielaw Inn to the foot of Tima, a distance of
three miles, while its tributaries, particularly the Bailie
Burn, the Rankleburn, the Tima, with Glenkerry, all
give good sport. Of the Lochs other than St Mary's
and the Loch o' the Lowes, the best are the Haining,
Headshaw, five miles from Selkirk, Essenside, Alemuir,
Hellmuir, the Shaws Lochs and Acremoor.
72 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
14. History of the Counties.
The inhabitants of Peebles and Selkirk are a mixture
of many races, the process of whose consolidation did not
terminate till a Scottish king sat upon the English throne.
Hence one may assert that over the Southern Uplands
the tide of war has ebbed and flowed for more than two
thousand years.
It was David I who began to civilize the Borders.
By the time of the Alexanders, Scotland, and particularly
the Lowlands, had attained a high degree of civilization.
The Wars of Succession, however, checked this for many
years ; and no part of the Lowlands suffered more than
Peebles and Selkirk. The connexion of the shires with
these wars is not unimportant. The men of the Forest
fought under Wallace at Falkirk ; and the noble and
handsome forms of those who fell roused the pitying
admiration of the English Chronicler of the fight.
Wallace after his desertion by the nobles at Irvine took
refuge in the Forest ; and a Peeblesshire baron, Sir Simon
Fraser the younger, the patriot's friend and companion-
in-arms, and the hero of Roslin and of Methven, shared
eventually Wallace's fate. The Good Sir James was lord
of Ettrick Forest. The Knight of Liddesdale, slain by
his kinsman near Broadmeadows, was one of the band of
heroes who won back from the English the castles they
had captured in the time of David II.
In the fourteenth century the Borders on both sides
were divided into three Marches : East, West, and
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES
73
Middle. Peebles and Selkirk were included in the
Middle March. Over each March was set a Warden,
and at stated intervals on days of truce Warden Courts
were held. Thus grew up the Border Laws which dealt
with fugitive serfs, and with offences committed by
Borderers on either side of the
boundary, such as manslaughter,
and theft of goods or cattle.
The first code of Border Laws
was drawn up in 1249 '•> tne
second exactly two hundred
years after. They were revised
from time to time till the Union,
when they became null and void.
Various attempts were made
to establish order ; notably by
James II in his contest with the
Black Douglas, whose territory
in Ettrick Forest he more than
once invaded and whom he
finally crushed at Arkinholm
in 1454. James IV also made
at least one famous expedition
to the Forest, when he exacted
submission from the "Outlaw
Murray." Flodden, which so
greatly enriched the fame and
traditions of the Forest, gave
only a short respite to the state
of anarchy to which the Burgh Flodden Memorial, Selkirk
*
74 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Records of Peebles bear frequent and eloquent testimony.
Brawls and fights in the streets, rapine, raid, and murder
were the order of the day. The Tweedies of Drummelzier,
the Scotts of Thirlestane, and other clans were neither
"to haud nor to bind."
It was not, however, till the relentless persecution of
Dacre after Flodden that life on the Borders was brought
to a state of positive demoralization. "The Borderers,"
says Creighton, "ceased to regard themselves as bound by
any laws save that of the family tie, and degenerated into
gangs of brigands whose hand was against every man, and
who made little distinction between friend and foe."
Hence it is that James V is best known for his determined
attempts to restore law and order upon the Borders. In
1 5 29 he visited Peebles and Jedburgh for this purpose. The
following year he resumed the task, and with a sufficient
force followed the " Thief's Road " across the Tweed,
up by the Lour, round the Scrape and Dollar Law, then
down the Craigierig Burn to Henderland, where he
arrested William Cockburn. From there he went to
Tushielaw, where he surprised Adam Scott, "the King
of the Borders." The two blackmailers were taken to
Edinburgh and executed. The Border Widow's Lament
commemorates the burial of Cockburn. But even these
stern measures failed to awe the greater barons, whom
James suspected of connivance at the depredations of their
"kindly tenants." He, therefore, in the same year,
caused several of them to be imprisoned. This alienated
the Border barons ; and James felt the bitter result of
their defection at the rout of Solway Moss.
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES 75
In the reign of Mary the war with England united
the Borderers against their " Auld Enemy," and even
Angus returned from exile to break a spear in defence of
his country and the honour of his ancestors, whose tombs
Latoun had defaced. The victory of Ancrum Moor
roused Henry to fury, and the following year he dispatched
Hertford to take vengeance on the Scots. The tale of
his burnings and slaughterings is appalling. Peebles was
burned to the ground with 250 towns and villages in the
Tweed area besides towers and castles and monasteries.
Three years after Henry's death came peace between
England and Scotland ; and the lawlessness of the Borders
grew more rampant than ever. On Queen Mary's return
from France, Moray was entrusted with the duty of
restoring order. His policy — afterwards adopted by
Morton and by James VI — was extermination. Yet one
of the last Border raids — perhaps the most daring of all —
was conducted in James's reign by the king's own
Warden in 1596, when the "Bold Buccleuch" rescued
"Kinmont Willie" from the castle of Carlisle. This
deed, the fame of which resounded through Europe,
nearly brought the two countries to war. It was about
this time that the Border counties began to be known as
the Middle Shires and a commission was appointed to
establish order therein. Special courts were appointed in
place of the old Warden Courts, at such places as Peebles,
Hawick, and Jedburgh. Through the expeditious severity
displayed by Dunbar the Commissioner at Jedburgh,
" Jethart Justice " came to signify " hang first and try
afterwards."
76 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
The Reformation had had little immediate effect upon
the Borderers, nor did the constitutional and religious
struggle of the seventeenth century strongly appeal to
them. The enthusiasm for the Covenant was less ardent
than in Galloway or Ayrshire, if an exception may be
made for the west of Selkirkshire and for the Galashiels
district. Yet when Montrose, seeking for support to the
king, reached Kelso, he received little encouragement.
Montrose advanced to Selkirk and took up his position at
Philiphaugh. Leslie, receiving word of his proximity,
marched with his main body on Selkirk, sending a force
round Linglie hill to attack Montrose in the flank and the
rear. At Leslie's unexpected attack, the royal troops fled
in rout over the hills to the west and north. Douglas
and Montrose, cutting their way through Leslie's lines,
fled over Minchmoor, and reached Traquair House, where
they were denied admittance. Making their way through
the Tweed at Howford, they reached Peebles. From
there, they escaped across to Clydesdale. In the year
after his victory at Dunbar, Cromwell dispatched a force
under Lambert to besiege Neidpath, held by the Earl of
Tweeddale. The attack was made from the south side
of the river and after a brave defence the Earl surrendered.
To the fiasco of the "Fifteen" Selkirk gave a supply
of shoes and a contribution of £10. In 1745 the town
of Selkirk, at the request of the city of Edinburgh,
furnished the Pretender with 2000 pairs of shoes for his
army. After Prestonpans, the Prince advanced towards
England in two main divisions. The first column
marched by Auchendinny to Peebles, thence to Broughton,
HISTORY OF THE COUNTIES 77
Tweedsmuir, and Moffat. At Peebles the contingent
occupied the field west of Hay Lodge, and the town-
mills were kept busy on the Sunday to supply the troops
with meal. The main column, under the command of
the Prince, went by Lauder and Kelso, whilst the baggage
party went by Galashiels and Selkirk. Charles Edward
is said to have visited Traquair ; but the Earl declined to
join his cause, and to soften his refusal, declared that the
gates would remain closed till Charles Stewart re-entered
them as Sovereign of the Kingdom.
The war with Napoleon aroused strong feelings of
patriotism. The old fighting instinct asserted itself again,
and Peeblesshire, after the Peace of Amiens, raised a levy
of foot and horse which outnumbered per 1000 of the
population that of any other county in Scotland. Nor
was Selkirk less enthusiastic ; for on the occasion of the
"False Alarm" on the night of January 3ist, 1804, the
Borderers responded gallantly to the ancient signal of
the Beacon Lights, and the Selkirkshire yeomanry made
a notable march, reaching Dalkeith by one o'clock the
following morning.
15. Antiquities — Pre= historic, British,
Roman.
In pre-historic days, the Neolithic men buried their
dead in long barrows or mounds, while the later Celts
buried in round barrows. Long barrows contain no
metal weapons ; round barrows have bronze weapons and
78
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
ornaments as well as stone. In the bronze age, gold
ornaments are also found. The sepulchral cairn, how-
ever, is commoner in Peebles and Selkirk than the barrow.
Tombs of the ancient Celts have been occasionally dis-
covered in almost every parish in Peeblesshire ; but most
frequently in the west, especially in the Lyne valley.
The ancient Britons have also left numerous hill-forts,
Catrail Fort at Rink
their houses or defences, which existed before, during, or
after the Roman occupation. No fewer than 83 of these
hill-forts have been surveyed in Peeblesshire. They are
most numerous in the west and north-west of the county,
rare in Tweedsmuir, in the Quair and in the Leithen
valleys, unknown on the slopes of the Pentlands and in
the valley between these hills and the Southern Uplands.
ANTIQUITIES 79
In Selkirk they are not to be found in the middle valleys
of Ettrick and Yarrow ; and only nine in all exist in the
eastern part of Selkirk, the most important being the
Rink. The forts are usually situated, at an elevation
ranging from 1000 to 1400 feet, on terminal spurs, as
East Cademuir ; on isolated hills, as Macbeth's Castle ;
on the slopes of valleys, as Harehope ; or in the valley
itself, as Stirkfield, Broughton. Two-thirds of them have
been constructed entirely of stone, the rest of earth, or
of earth and stone. Their general form is curvilinear,
modified to suit the outline of the surface. But it is not
possible to say whether the walls were built, or simply
piled up. In the fort at Dreva, however, traces of
building have been seen. Some forts, as Upper Cademuir,
have treble rings ; some, as Cardrona, double ; and some,
as East Cademuir, single rings. The circumference varies,
roughly from 150 yards at East Cademuir to 600 yards at
Upper Cademuir. Two stone forts, West Cademuir and
Dreva, are defended by groups of stones at a lower level
than the camp, forming a sort of chevaux de frise, a feature
found nowhere else in Scotland.
None of these forts equals in interest that on
Torwoodlee hill a few miles from Galashiels, 300 feet
above Gala Water and situated within the area of a British
camp on Crossleehill. It belongs to the type of fort
known as a broch. Brochs are dry-built circular castles.
They are characteristic of the Celtic area, outside of
which they have never been found. They belong to
post-Roman times; their relics are Celtic, Roman, and
post-Roman. The remains of the Torwoodlee broch
80 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
measure 75 feet, and the enclosed court 40 feet in
diameter, the height of the walls being about three feet.
The entrance passage is on the east side and must have
been closed by a door. At the main entrance was a
guard room within the thickness of the wall, and on the
south-west side there are the remains of a staircase which
would lead to the upper galleries of the tower, sometimes
five or six in number, the floor of one forming the roof of
the other. The broch of Torwoodlee is thus larger than
that of Mousa. The relics of the brochs show that their
occupants hunted in the forests ; kept flocks and herds ;
cultivated grain ; fished rivers and seas ; and were
acquainted with the arts of weaving and pottery, metal,
wood, and stone work. The relics of Torwoodlee broch
consist mainly of pottery, glass, enamels, and iron imple-
ments.
The broch of Torwoodlee seems to be the terminus
of the Catrail, one of the most wonderful monuments of
antiquity in the south of Scotland. It consists of a ditch
with a double mound, one on each side, obliterated in
many places, in others, distinct. Even where no trench
or mound exists, its course can often be traced by the
lighter shade of the grass, by the darker green of the
young corn, or in winter, by the longer-lying snow. Its
course, as it halves Selkirkshire in two, stretches over
Tweed, Yarrow, and Ettrick for 50 miles from Tor-
woodlee camp in the north-east of Selkirkshire to the
slopes of Peel Fell in the Cheviots. Where it is perfect
the width of the fosse from the summit of one mound to
another, varies from 23^ feet to 18^ feet ; the width of the
jfS' WallacesTrench f/j^M^ $&ribsHHr
JB^P/t1' "^C" "S^ 3&&t ' \A
m^nchmu,'r \ ^ 8m^t^ Pea'//?^»rf"incd,
lerla-nd
--*3'^Ettricl(baJnl<
Lin jfee Hill ~/
^XSELKIRK
The Haining
Sand \ Wedder \jpper
Knows ( Lairs
l^Ashkirk
<^ Hill
Line of Catrail
Line of the Catrail through Selkirkshire
P. P. S.
82 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
bottom of the ditch is on an average six feet ; and the
distance from the summit of the slope to the bottom is
10 feet. Three theories have been advanced to explain
the Catrail : (i) a line of defence by the Britons against
the English ; (2) a territorial boundary between Anglian-
Bernicia on the east and British Cumbria on the west ;
(3) and best, a strategic road between the greater forts
constructed by the Romanized Britons to check the English
invasion.
Lyne Camp was a castellum or fortified camp, probably
on a Roman road leading to Antonine's Wall. It is
situated on the plateau of a moraine about 100 feet above
Lyne Water, towards which it slopes on the west and
south. The north and east sides of the camp were
protected by a morass, the west and south by the river and
its sloping banks, and the east by a natural mound, now
covered with trees. Two annexes, one on the north-
west angle, the other on the south-west, filled up the
vacant spaces between the edge of the marsh on the north
and the slope on the south sides. On the east, towards
which the camp faced, there were three lines of defence
140 feet in width ; on the south the breadth of the
fortifications was reduced to 1 20 feet, on the north-east
(where the mounds are most clearly marked) to 85 feet ;
on the north-west to 45 feet ; while on the south-west
there was only one rampart with its trench. The
variation in the width of the defences was dependent, of
course, on the amount of natural protection afforded by
the slope or by the marsh. There were no gates or
barricades on the east, but there were gates on the north
/DIRECTION OF MARSH DIRECTION OF
HEIGHTS .
LYNE. ROMAN CAMP/
PEEBLESSHIRE
Lyne Roman Camp
Explanation of Plan: a, a the Pretentura, (5, 3 the Retentura, c, d,e,/a. line
of 4 (probably 5) stone buildings, c the Praetorium or Principia, d the
officers' quarter buttressed portion next to c probably a horreum, e a
horreum, /officers' quarters, the small square a pit, PP Porta Praetoria,
PD Porta Decumana, V, P the Via Principalis, V, Q the Via Quintana,
the dots at the gateways represent postholes, T a traverse opposite
western entrance. (Mr James Curie, author of Newstead Fort and
Camp, thinks that d probably consist of two buildings.)
6—2
84
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
and south. The south entrance opened into the annex,
from which there must have been a bridge. A short
portion of a road remains leading north-east and then
south-east from the eastern wall of the camp. In a pit
in the courtyard of the annex to the south, were found
the few relics that were discovered : some Samian ware,
glass, nails, and two coins, a denarius of Titus (A.D. 79)
and a brass sestertius of Trajan (A.D. 104-110).
Standing stones or megaliths, of great antiquity, are
found in Manor (a cup-marked stone) ; at Lour, also cup-
marked ; at Dollar Law, Tweedsmuir, Sheriffmuir (Lyne),
Roman Coin found at Bellanrig in Manor, 1910
Obverse :— ANTONINVS AVG. PIVS P.P.TR.P. i.e. Antoninus
Augustus Pius, Father of his country with Tribunician Power.
(Date, probably 145.)
Reverse: — COS. IIII. i.e. the fourth year of his consulship. The
letters, S.C. also occur.
Cardrona, "Warrior's Rest" (Yarrow). Some of these
are no doubt monumental. The eleven stones, eight of
which are standing and three lying down, on Blackhouse
Heights, said to mark the " Douglas Tragedy," are
according to Professor Veitch older than feudal times.
The stones at "Warrior's Rest" were boldly, but without
ANTIQUITIES 85
warrant, linked by Sir Walter Scott with the legend of
the "Dowie Dens."
Flint arrows, stone axes and hammers, mostly of other
stone than flint ; bronze axes, flat, flanged, and socketed —
the three stages of their evolution — have been found at
various places, but mainly in the west. A food urn of
rare and elegant design was found at Darnhall, a bronze
caldron at Hattonknowe, a Roman patella at Stanhope,
and gold ornaments at Shawhill.
16. Architecture — (a) Ecclesiastical.
The earliest church buildings in Scotland were usually
of wood and clay, resting upon stone foundations. Church
settlements of a very early date existed in Peeblesshire at
Stobo, Kingledoors, Glenholm and Drummelzier. K ingle-
doors Chapel in Tweedsmuir was either founded by
St Cuthbert or, like the last two, dedicated to him soon
after his death in 687 A.D. Churches in the twelfth
century existed at Peebles and Traquair ; and, if Selkirk
means "Kirk of the .Shiels," in Ettrick Forest long before
the twelfth century. But the remains of ancient churches
within the shires are singularly rare and of little archi-
tectural interest.
The Church of St Andrew in Peebles was founded
by Bishop Jocelin of Glasgow in 1195, in the reign of
William the Lyon, and therefore belongs to the transition
period of Norman to Early English. The walls were
built of undressed whinstone ; and a tall square tower,
86
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
" restored " by Sir William Chambers, at the west end
of what must have been a spacious building, is all that
now remains of the structure. In 1406 it was burned
by Umfraville, " Robin Mend the Market," and nearly
one hundred and fifty years afterwards it suffered when
Hertford destroyed the town by fire. At the Reformation
Tower of St Andrew's Parish Church, Peebles,
before restoration
in 1560 it was abandoned; and there is a tradition that
Lambert, when besieging Neidpath Castle, stabled his
horses in the church, which by that time had fallen into
ruins.
The Church of the Holy Cross was founded by
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL 87
Alexander III in 1261. In that year, says John of
Fordun, a cross was found at Peebles, and near the
cross an urn, with the relics of the martyr St Nicholas,
supposed to have been massacred in the reign of Dio-
cletian. Crowds of people flocked to the spot, and many
miracles were performed. More than 200 years after,
in the reign of James II, a monastery was added to the
church. The unusual position of the monastery on the
north side of the church, Dr Gunn supposes to be due
to the fact that the niche containing the relics of St
Nicholas was on the south wall of the church. The space
opposite this side of the church would naturally be the
resort of the crowds of pilgrims who resorted thither
twice a year, at the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross,
and again at the Feast of the Finding of the Cross (which
had been grafted on to the old pagan Beltane). The south
side would therefore have been an inconvenient site for
the monastery. Indeed, the practice of veneration con-
tinued long after the Reformation, and as late as 1601
the Minister and Bailies of Peebles report to the Pres-
bytery that at this Beltane " there was no resorting of
the people into the Cross Church to commit any sign
of superstition there." At the Reformation the monastery
was dissolved ; and the Cross Church, in succession to
that of St Andrew, became the parish church. It was
abandoned in 1783 for a new church, built on the Castle
Hill at the west end of the High Street. Connected with
the monastery was an almshouse and chapel of the Virgin.
This almshouse formed a branch establishment of the
principal hostel at Eshiels, near Horsburgh Castle — the
88 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Hospital of SS. Leonard and Lawrence, which provided
for the pilgrims who journeyed to Peebles from the east.
Dr Gunn, author of the Books of the Church, has
supplied the following useful summary :
Early Church of St Mungo unrecorded.
St Andrew's 1195. Burned 1549. Abandoned 1560.
Cross Church. Founded 1261. Its Monastery 1473. Dis-
solved 1560. Parish Church in succession to St Andrew's 1560.
St Mary's. Founded 1363. Used as an Occasional Chapel
of the Reformed Faith 1560-1780 (St Mary's stood west of
St Andrew's).
Chapel of the Castle of Peebles, c. 1153 to 1305.
Chapel and Hospice of SS. Leonard and Lawrence at Eshiels,
c. 1300-1560.
Lyne Church, still in use, is situated on a gravel
moraine east of the Roman Camp. The building mea-
sures only 47^ feet by 15 feet, and was built in 1644
by the Hay of Yester who was the first Earl of Tweed-
dale, on the site of an earlier church.
Stobo Parish Church, a Norman structure, consisting
of three parts — tower, nave, chancel — the work of different
periods, had considerable alterations made upon it in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The most serious
injury inflicted on it was the entire destruction of the
Norman chancel arch by the substitution of a modern
pointed one when the building was restored in 1868.
The sixteenth- and seventeenth-century features consist
of a south porch, and a north aisle, which was barrel-
vaulted, but is now in ruins. The belfry is of late
ARCHITECTURE— ECCLESIASTICAL
89
design, as is also the roof. After the Reformation some
of the doors and windows were built up, and the walls
plastered. In 1 868 an old monumental tomb with canopy
was removed, and two Norman windows were discovered.
The Chapel of St Mary's, in Yarrow, situated on a
terrace of rock south of Copper Law, about 200 feet
Parish Church, Stobo
(Drawn by Mr Alex. Blackivood)
above the level of the loch, has left no traces except
a small mound, not over 20 feet square, in the north
angle of an enclosure. The oldest name of the church
was St Marie of Fairmainshope, and in later times,
St Marie of the Lowes, i.e. Lochs. According to the
ballad The Douglas Tragedy, Lord William and Lady
90 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Margaret were buried in the church ; and according to
the ballad The Gay Goshawk, another Lord William in this
church roused his lady love from her death-like slumber
on her bier. In 1559 tne church was attacked by 2OO
men of the clan Scott, in search of their enemy Sir Peter
Cranston, an incident commemorated in Scott's Lay of the
Last Minstrel.
The site of the primitive church of Selkirk is un-
known ; the Abbey, however, begun by David I, is
supposed to have been at the corner of High Street and
Tower Street. A church was built in Selkirk in 1511-
12, and another in its place in 1747. It was in the latter
church, now a ruin, that the panels of the front gallery
were ornamented with pictorial emblems of the various
crafts of the burgh, whose deacons and quartermasters
occupied the front seats of the gallery. The figure of
Justice blind-folded with scales in her hand, and the
motto "A false balance is an abomination to the Lord,"
advertised the piety and the integrity of the Merchant
Company. The Tailors represented our first parents
making clothes for themselves ; the Souters showed a
fellow of the order of St Crispin measuring a lady's foot,
the explanatory legend being : " How beautiful are thy
feet with shoes, O Prince's daughter."
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 91
17. Architecture — (6) Military: Castles
and Peels.
The early castles of Peebles and Selkirk, as in other
parts of Great Britain, were at first palisaded earth-works
upon which were erected strongholds of timber. Hence
Peel, which at first meant a wooden stockade, from the
French pel, Latin palus, a stake, came to designate a forti-
fication with a building inside it, the enclosure as distinct
from the building being known as the barmkyn. This
wooden building was strengthened with an exterior
coating of turf and clay. To prevent this wall of turf
and clay from collapsing, the rigid structure of timber
was built with its four sides sloping inwards, and when
stone and lime were substituted for wood and turf the
pyramidal form was preserved. In 1535 every landed
Borderer possessing £100 worth of land was compelled
by law to build a barmkyn of stone and lime upon his
heritage and lands, with a tower in the same if he thought
fit. It was at this time, therefore, that most of the Border
keeps of stone and lime were built.
Of the first period (1200-1300) of military archi-
tecture in Scotland, no examples exist in Peebles or
Selkirk. A distinct break takes place between the thir-
teenth- and the fourteenth-century type of castle. The
country had been impoverished by the Wars of Inde-
pendence. Besides, Bruce's policy was to build small
and inexpensive strongholds, easy to replace and of little
value to the English invader. The second period (1300-
1400) is, therefore, characterized by small keeps, simple
92 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
towers ; later by keeps of L-shaped plan ; and still later,
or in the case of wealthy owners, by keeps of E (court-
yard) plan. Tinnis Castle, near Drummelzier, so like
a robber's castle on the Rhine, built in this century, is
exceptional in having four round towers, one at each
corner, united by curtain walls. Little remains of it
except the foundations.
Neidpath Castle was originally a peel tower, dating
probably from the twelfth century. It belonged to the
Fraser family and in the fourteenth century came into
the hands of the Hays, afterwards earls of Tweeddale.
In 1650 it was fortified by John Lord Yester, and be-
sieged by Lambert. The castle, which is of L-shaped
plan, is picturesquely situated in a wooded gorge on a
rocky prominence overlooking the Tweed winding its
way into the valley as it opens out towards Peebles.
The walls, which form two oblique angles, are 10 to
1 1 feet thick. The original door was on the south or
precipitous side above the river, and the upper floors were
reached by a spiral stair. The tower is divided into two
principal compartments by a vault. There is also a vault
near the level of the parapet, and probably another carried
the roof. Each principal compartment was divided once
more into two by wooden floors. The great hall was on
the second floor, immediately above the central vault, and
was 40 feet long by 21^ feet broad. The corners of the
building are all rounded, and the parapet, also rounded,
has no projecting bartizans. In the seventeenth century
the castle was greatly altered by the second earl of
Tweeddale. A courtyard was made to the front, east
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 93
side, the entrance changed to the centre of this front, a
wide staircase introduced, the top storey heightened, the
battlements raised so as to contain small apartments, and
the parapet fronting the courtyard left open, which was
Neidpath Castle, Peebles
probably the balcony whence the " Maid of Neidpath "
viewed the return of her lover, whose failure to recognise
her broke her heart.
The third period (1400-1542) still had its simple
keeps, of which Newark Castle is a fine example ; keeps
94 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
with one or two wings ; and keeps enlarged into castles
surrounding a courtyard.
" Newark's stately tower
Looks out from Yarrow's birchen bower,"
four and a half miles from Selkirk. In contrast to an older
castle, Newark, completed for James III in 1470, means
" New Work," and is in a better state of preservation
Newark Tower
than the other strongholds in Yarrow. It was a royal
hunting seat in the times of the Stewarts. After the
battle of Philiphaugh, 100 prisoners were shot in its
courtyard ; and it was occupied by Cromwell in 1650.
The Duchess of Buccleuch, wife of Monmouth, resided
here after his death, and it is during her time and in this
castle that Scott makes the " Last Minstrel " sing his Lay.
The castle is an oblong keep, 65 feet by 40 feet, with
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 95
walls 10 feet thick and about 84 feet in height. It is
surrounded by a barmkyn of irregular shape, about 150
feet square. The first floor is noticeable as it has the
hall at one end, and the kitchen at the other with a
great fireplace having a seat-cupboard and two mural
closets.
To the fourth period (1542-1700) most of the strong-
holds in Peebles and Selkirk belong. These were mostly
abandoned in the seventeenth century or developed into
mansion houses. The castles which belong to the period
are : Thirlestane, Gamescleuch, Dryhope, Blackhouse,
Kirkhope, Oakwood, Barns, Castlehill, Posso, Horsburgh,
Nether Horsburgh, Hutcheonfield — all simple keeps ;
Buckholm, Drummelzier, Cardrona, Haystoun House,
have an additional wing added to one end of the main
block.
Drochil Castle is an example of the Z plan, having
a tower at two of the diagonally opposite angles of the
rectangular block so that its defenders might sweep with
fire all its four sides at once. The castle has a magnifi-
cent situation near the junction of the Tarth and the
Lyne. It commands views northwards up the Lyne,
westwards up the Tarth, south and east down Lyne valley
towards the Tweed valley and the hills behind Hundles-
hope. The castle is a transition building, and marks the
change from the military peel tower with single tenement
rooms to a double tenement building in which the military
are less pronounced than the domestic features. The
towers, for example, are small compared with the size
of the building and the shot-holes have been made for
96 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
musketry, not for cannon. A corridor \1\ feet wide on
each storey divides the building into two blocks. The
south block now consists of only one storey, but from
the northern block it can be seen that the castle had
four storeys with attics, each storey being reached by a
circular staircase, which began on the ground floor at
the front entrance. There were two entrances one
at each end of the gallery on the ground floor, the west
being the main one. Above this entrance are still to be
seen in the tympanum the initials J. D. (James Douglas),
the heart and the fetterlock, a D-shaped hobble for a
horse, the badge of the Warden of the Marches. The
ground floor contains the vaults and cellars, and in the
N.E. angle a large kitchen with an immense fireplace
and chimney still intact of equal width from floor to roof.
The roof of the ground floor is vaulted, and the large hall
above this vaulted roof in the south block was the dining
room. Although the castle was unfinished when Morton
was executed, it seems to have been occupied as a strong-
hold.
Hallyards is an example of the T plan ; Elibank,
Whytbank, Torwoodlee of the E or courtyard plan
(Scottish type) ; Traquair of the courtyard plan (Re-
naissance type), while Fairnilee shows development of a
keep into a house and mansion.
The situation of the keeps was chosen mainly for the
purpose of giving and receiving fire signals. One fire
meant that the enemy was approaching, two that he was
coming indeed, and four " all burning together like
candles" that he was in great force. The signals passed
P. P. S,
98 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
zigzag from one side of the river to the other up the
main valley and its lateral streams till, having been seen
all up Teviotdale, Ettrick, Yarrow, and Tweeddale, there
gathered by early morning as many as 10,000 men at
the rendezvous.
The ground area of the peel-towers often did not
exceed 20 feet square. Barns is 28 by 20 feet. The hall
on the first floor is only 17^ by 14 feet. It is, therefore,
not easy to explain how the owner of a small keep found
accommodation for his family and retainers. Originally
the first floor of the peel would be reached by a ladder,
drawn up when the tower was closed. The ground
chambers had always stone vaulted roofs. The bastel
houses of Peebles, relics of which were to be seen a few
years ago, had both stone vaulted roofs and outside stairs
corresponding to the ladder of the peel. The entrance to
the vaulted chamber of the peel was by a stout wooden
door studded with bolts, and often protected by an iron
"yett," the horizontal and vertical bars of which were
interlaced to give it additional strength. The " yett " at
Barns, probably the oldest in Scotland, is an example of
this style of grating. In time the outside approach was
dispensed with for a narrow spiral staircase from top to
bottom of the tower, generally situated in one of its angles
and sometimes in the thickness of the walls. The narrow
slots in the walls, deeply splayed on the inside, were
meant for arrows; the round holes for fire-arms. The
outside of the round holes at Drochil are filleted so as
to reduce the chance of shots getting inside, but deeply
splayed on the inside so as to increase the angle of fire
7—2
METHOP or INTERLACING
32%-
WR.OUCHT IRON GATE AT BARNS
"Yett" at Barns Tower
ARCHITECTURE— MILITARY 101
for the defenders. The bartizan was the narrow passage
between the roof and the battlements. Here the warders
kept watch, and here the defence was carried on. Newark
and Kirkhope have a bartizan on all sides; Neidpath on
west and east. Barns and Oakwood have none. The
furnishings depended on the wealth and rank of their
owners and on the period. Jamie Telfer had :
"...naething in his house,
But ae auld sword
That hardly now wud fell a mouse";
but the Laird of Torwoodlee was robbed by raiders in
1568 of ^1000 in gold and silver, two dozen silver
spoons (each two ounce weight), bedding, napery and
clothing, abuilzements and plenishing, worth the sum of
5000 merks.
18. Architecture — (c) Domestic.
As the need for defence decreased, domestic archi-
tecture developed. The transition in Scotland was most
pronounced in the reign of James VI. Peels were
enlarged into L and E types of building. The castle
designed for residence developed, as Drochil ; and later
the seventeenth-century mansion house, as Traquair and
Elibank.
In the Border keep, which had utility stamped upon
it, the corbel was designed to bear the parapet ; the
machiolations to allow guns to be fired from it ; the corner
turrets to sweep with fire the sides of the building; and
the gargoyles to carry off water from the parapets. But
102 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
as the need for defence disappeared, these useful features
of the building were converted to other purposes, or
losing their significance, were employed simply as orna-
ment : the turrets became chambers, the corbels were
reduced till they became mere chequered bands, as at
Drochil, the parapets were absorbed in the walls, and
the bartizans disappeared, or became a balcony as at
Neidpath. Hence the leading features of seventeenth-
century architecture became picturesque turrets cornered
out of angles, roofs high pitched with crow-stepped gables,
and detail ornamentation with such Norman types as the
cable, billet, and dog tooth, as seen at Traquair. The
introduction of the Renaissance style was also charac-
terized by a tendency towards uniformity of design, as
seen at Fairnilee. Still later, in the eighteenth century,
the period began to be marked by the absence of dormer
windows, and by the introduction of the unbroken hori-
zontal classic cornice at the eaves, as may be seen at the
Whim.
That most interesting mansion, the Glen, was origin-
ally a farm-house, to which Playfair, the Edinburgh
architect, designed additions. In 1852 Charles, afterwards
Sir Charles Tennant, Baronet, of the Glen, purchased
the estate and the mansion-house. The house was de-
molished and the present building, in old Scottish baronial
designed by David Bryce, was erected.
The antique aspect of Traquair House or Palace has
probably been better preserved than that of any other
inhabited house in Scotland. Of Renaissance style and
composed of several buildings, it received its present
104
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
character from John, first Earl of Traquair (1628). The
old castle forms the northern portion of the building.
The house and offices make three sides of a square, about
IOO feet either way, with a beautiful iron railing with
Plan of Traquair House
( The darkest portions are the oldest]
stone pillars at intervals and an entrance gateway in the
centre. The main building opposite this is four storeys
high, with frontage to courtyard and outward or N.E.
face, of about 122 feet. The side wings with attics are
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC 105
one storey high. On the N.W. side, which, owing to
the fall of the ground has an additional storey, there
are the stables and offices, and above, a chapel with
sacristy. A high terrace, 17 feet wide, runs along the
N.E. side of the building with stairs leading down about
eight feet to a lower terrace, at either end of which there
is a pavilion with an O. G. roof; a second stair leads
down to the banks of the Quair Burn. The building
belongs to three periods : first, the old castle on the
north; then, the extension (1642) to the S.E., the whole
width of the first ; finally, the low wings (1695), the
terraces and pavilions and the grand entrance gateway.
An avenue leads from the front southwards. It is now
overgrown with grass, and has been closed for more than
2OO years. The famous gateway which opened on to
this avenue with its bears rampant and its fine hammered
iron railing with ornament of fleur de lys is regarded as
the prototype of the gateway at Tullyveolan in Scott's
JVaverley, The interior of the house has been little
changed since Stewart days. A room on the second floor
of the N.E. part of the house has painted decorations on
one of its walls — scenes of Eastern life with floral scrolls,
and scriptural quotations in old German lettering.
Other buildings, interesting as they are, can only be
mentioned. Darnhall with its fine avenue of limes is
of Renaissance type, having the appearance of a French
chateau. In the seventeenth century, next to Traquair,
it was the finest mansion house in Peeblesshire. Dawyck,
surrounded by its beautiful and historic woods and built
by Sir James Naesmyth early in the eighteenth century,
106
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
was in 1864 replaced by the present mansion house of
Scottish baronial design. Opposite to it is Stobo Castle,
for long the seat of the Montgomery family. Built in
1805-11 by James A. Elliot and situated on an eminence
overlooking the Tweed, it presents a bold and striking
effect. Halmyre House, Scottish baronial, near the Dead-
Traquair House
burn, was originally a fortalice, part of which is preserved
in the lower storey. Lamancha, formerly the Grange, was
built by Robert Hamilton in 1663. It was sold to the
Dundonald family and its name changed to Lamancha
by Alexander Cochrane, son of the eighth Earl of Dun-
donald, and an Admiral of the Fleet. The Whim,
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC
107
Renaissance, built by Archibald Earl of Islay (1730),
is a massive square, three-storey house. Macbie Hill,
adjoining Halmyre, was in the sixteenth century a Border
keep. At this period it was known as Coitcoit, according
to Nennius the place of King Arthur's seventh battle.
The house, whose name was softened to Coldcoat (Coud-
coat), was purchased by William Montgomery of Ayrshire
Stobo Castle
and the name changed by him to Macbie Hill, which
became the original home of the Montgomeries of
Peeblesshire. Spitalhaugh, Scottish baronial, came into
the possession of the Fergusson family in 1833, after
having passed successively through the hands of the
Douglases, the Hays, and the Murrays of Blackbarony.
Returning now to Selkirkshire, we must note Ashiesteel
on the south bank of the Tweed, between Walkerburn
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC
109
and Clovenfords. It was originally a peel, and then a
"decent farm house." It is now a low straggling white-
washed building, considerably enlarged since Scott occupied
it. The older walls are extremely thick. In the grounds
is the "Shirra's seat," where Sir Walter Scott wrote
much of Marmion. Fairnilee, dating back to the fifteenth
Bowhill, Selkirk
century when it was held by the Douglases and the Kerrs,
in 1700 came into the hands of Robert Rutherford, one
of whose daughters was the famous Alison. The house
is a long parallelogram, with entrance door in centre and
turrets at each end, ornamented with dog tooth and other
" revived " ornaments. Other mansion houses in the
110 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
vicinity are the new mansion house of Fairnilee, on the
opposite side of the Tweed, and the old Castle of Tor-
woodlee, the scene of one of the last Border raids in 1568.
The Haining, near Selkirk, built like an Italian pa/azzo, is
one of the finest mansion houses, and is surrounded by
perhaps the most beautifully designed gardens and policies
in the south of Scotland. The grounds are ornamented
with statuary by Canova, and the design of house, gardens,
terraces, lake, parks and woods combined with picturesque
surroundings forms a most harmonious composition. Phi-
liphaugh in 1792 was an old house with columbarium,
orchards and planting. The modern mansion, Scottish
baronial, is situated at the foot of a beautifully wooded
hill. It has fine terraces along its front, whence extensive
views may be had of Yarrow and the country beyond.
Bowhill, a name dear to every lover of Scott and the
residence of the Dukes of Buccleuch, is built in Re-
naissance style. Previous to 1455 it belonged to the
Douglases, and in the eighteenth century it was acquired
by the Dukes of Buccleuch. Duke Charles extended
the house and gave it its present appearance. Scott with
the affection of a retainer has made the setting of Bowhill
for ever famous :
" When summer smiled on sweet Bowhill,
And July's eve, with balmy breath,
Waved the blue-bells on Newark heath ;
When throstles sung on Harehead-shaw,
And corn was green on Carterhaugh,
And flourished, broad, Blackandro's oak,
The aged Harper's soul awoke."
ARCHITECTURE— DOMESTIC 1 1 1
The mansion of Thirlestane, home of the famous Napier
family and erected in 1840 in Scottish baronial design, is
finely situated amongst lofty plantations on the watershed
between Yarrow and Ettrick about two miles above
Tushielaw.
19. Communications — Past and Present.
In early times communications between different
localities followed the valleys and rivers. In Peebles and
Selkirk, then, we find the main roads lying in the longi-
tudinal valleys and the chief transverse valleys. Starting
from Galashiels the longitudinal routes stretch up the
valleys of the Tweed, Yarrow, and Ettrick to the sources
of these streams, and then cross the watershed into
Annandale, Eskdale, or Clydesdale. The main road
from Galashiels via Peebles to Broughton, where the road
turns to the left up Tweedsmuir and, crossing the
watershed into Annandale by the Devil's Beef Tub,
continues through Moffat. Turning east, it follows the
Moffat Water to the watershed at Birkhill, descends into
Megget, a side valley opening into Yarrow at Capper-
cleuch, thence to Tibbie Shiel's inn with Selkirk on the
right, and on to Galashiels. Starting once more at
Galashiels, the main Carlisle route passes up the valley
of Ettrick to Selkirk, and crosses Teviot watershed by
Ashkirk to Hawick. A parallel route follows the valley
of the Ettrick and, passing up Tima Water, crosses the
boundary into Eskdale down to Langholm. Numerous
112
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
cross roads join these longitudinal routes, over the various
watersheds: (i) Tweed, Yarrow and Ettrick; (2) Tweed
and Forth ; (3) Ettrick, Teviot and Solway ; (4) Yarrow
and Ettrick.
The obvious route by valley and river was in early
days often departed from. The hillsides were chosen,
sometimes because drier than the flooded or marshy
Cacra Bank, Ettrick
Route between Ettrick and Teviot {Borthwick Water)
bottoms, sometimes for scouting or for safety, sometimes
for other reasons. Let us trace some of these roads.
The road over the bridge connecting Pirn Hill with
Caerlee Hill passes through the Glenormiston Estate
along the south-west slope of Lee Pen to Nether Hors-
burgh. The road between Peebles and Edinburgh up
the lateral valley of the Eddleston water proceeded up
COMMUNICATIONS 1 13
hill to Venlaw House. Thence with occasional descents,
it passed along the ridge of heights flanking the valley till
it crossed the boundary between Peeblesshire and Mid-
lothian, near Portmore. The steepest ascents were at
Venlaw and Windylaws ; and four horses were required
to draw an ordinary travelling vehicle along this road, the
rate of progress being three miles an hour. The present
road was made in 1770. The old Neidpath road struck
up the slope towards Jedderfield, skirting the heights till
nearly opposite to Edderston farm, where it came down
to the present level. It was probably on account of this
difficult road by Neidpath and the want of bridges on
the lower part of the Lyne that the old route between
Tweeddaie and Clydesdale in the seventeenth century
came by way of B rough ton and Drummelzier. This
road crossed the Tweed above Drummelzier by a ford,
and was thereafter continued through Manor parish and
over the Sware "or Swire" to Peebles. Minchmoor
road cuts directly by Traquair over the watershed
between Tweed and Yarrow in a line for Selkirk,
whereas the present route follows the valley to Caddon-
foot and Yair Bridge round behind Sunderland Hall and
thence across the Ettrick. The Minchmoor track, which
is now a bridle path, has branches leading towards
Yarrowford on the right and Ashiesteel on the left, while
the main track descends into the valley behind Philip-
haugh Farm. The road intersects " Wallace's Trench "
and enters Selkirkshire 1800 feet above sea-level. Near
the summit behind Traquair it passes a spring called the
" Cheese Well," haunted by the fairies. Along the
p. P. s. 8
THIEF'S ROAD FEEBLE SS>URE
THIEF'S ROAD
The Thief s Road
COMMUNICATIONS 115
Minchmoor road the Peebles millers in the olden days
conveyed supplies of meal on pack-horses to Selkirk. In
1769 the Earl of Traquair, on applying to the Peebles
Town Council for a subscription to assist in building
a bridge over the Quair, astutely reminded the Council
of this fact, and was rewarded with the sum of six
guineas. " Minchmoor " in Dr John Brown's Horae
Subsedvae forms the subject of one of his most delightful
essays.
There are also transverse hill-roads running mainly
north and south over the watersheds. The Drove Road
enters the county of Peebles in the north-west corner of
Linton parish, near the Cauldstane Slap, crosses Hamilton
Hill north-west of the town, passes through Peebles by
the "Gipsies' Glen," runs along the ridge between Tweed
and Glensax, and descends behind the Glen, continuing
thence towards Yarrow and the Borders of England.
Such roads in ancient times were exempt from the
burdens affecting either parish or turnpike roads, and on
passing through Peebles the cattle or sheep with their
keepers were permitted for a small fee to rest on what
was once known as the Kingsmuir, a spot now occupied
by the Caledonian Station. Another well-known road
over the backbone of the country, further up the valley,
is the Manor Road following the straight valley right
up to the steep ridge of Shielhope and Norman Law.
Thence up the burn by Bitch Craig (1600 feet), it
reaches St Mary's Loch. Other roads of the sort are
numerous. But next to Minchmoor the most famous
of all these hill roads is the "Thief's Road." This is a
8—2
116
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
broad, flattened, well-marked track without dyke or ditch,
so called because it was used by the Border thieves who
came and went between the upper reaches of Ettrick and
Tweeddale. From the Merecleugh Head or Rodono
Hill it passes by the Craigierig Burn, Dollar Law and
Scrape to Stobo, a branch leading off to Drummelzier.
Below Stobo it crosses the Tweed, and it is said that
Bridge at Ettrick Bridge End
it can be traced through the Pentlands into Midlothian.
From Rodono Hill it passes over to Ettrick, where it
is known as the " Bridle path," and probably leads into
the wilds of Liddesdale. The track is sometimes known
as the " King's Road," because James V went by this
route to arrest William Cockburn and Adam Scott.
In early days numerous Acts of Parliament were
COMMUNICATIONS
117
passed to improve the roads. According to Boston the
roads in Ettrick in the middle of the seventeenth century
were little better than the channel of a river, being
impassable by travellers on horseback, and altogether
impracticable to wheeled carriages. In 1719 all the able-
bodied men in every district had to give six days' labour in
improving the highways. Roads made or improved by
this means were called " Statute Labour Roads." But it
was not till the close of the eighteenth century that roads
and bridges were put into a proper condition. This was
done by the Turnpike Act of 1751.
Bridges more than roads appealed to the liberality of
individuals and churches in
early times, and their erection
was sometimes due to pious
founders or to the vows of
travellers. The first bridge
over Ettrick was built at
Ettrick Bridge End as the
result of a vow by Wat o'
Harden. A captive child was
drowned as he crossed the
ford on his return from a raid, and he vowed to build
a bridge so that the one lost life might be the means
of saving hundreds. On a stone in this bridge was
carved the Harden coat-of-arms : a crescent moon with
the motto Cornua Reparablt Phoebe. Part of this bridge
fell in 1746, and was demolished in 1777 by a flood. A
new bridge was built half a mile further up, and the stone
with the Harden coat-of-arms transferred to it. Peebles
Old stone with Harden's
crest
118 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
bridge, built of wood, towards the end of the fifteenth
century, was a century later rebuilt of stone. In 1834
it was widened, and in 1890 it was re-built a second
time. The various stages of its growth can be seen
beneath the arches. At one time Peebles bridge and
Berwick bridge were the only two over the Tweed from
Peebles to Berwick. One of the largest single-span
bridges in Scotland is that over the Tweed at Ashiesteel.
Manor bridge at Manorfoot was built in 1702 out of the
vacant stipend of the parish, " a most necessar pious use."
The inscription states that the bridge was erected by Lord
William Douglas, but omits to mention that it was done
out of church property. Selkirk bridge over the Ettrick
was built in 1778 and enlarged 1881.
Selkirkshire has only one short branch railway line
(6^ miles) joining the Midland route at Galashiels.
Peeblesshire has three branch lines, one connecting with
the N. B. R. up the Eddleston Valley at Millerhill ; the
other connecting with the C. R. up the Tweed Valley,
via Broughton, at Symington ; the third connecting Lead-
burn with Dolphinton on the boundary between Peebles
and Lanark. The N. B. branch to Peebles is continued
to Galashiels via Innerleithen.
20. Administration and Divisions.
Scotland in the twelfth century was divided into
twenty-three sherifFdoms, of which Peebles and Selkirk
were two. The sheriff, who was generally some high
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 119
nobleman, was responsible to the King for law and order
in his district. The sheriff frequently delegated the
active part of his duties to a deputy, and the honorary
office as a rule became hereditary. For many years the
Murrays of Philiphaugh were hereditary sheriffs of
Selkirkshire. When, therefore, in 1747 hereditary juris-
dictions were abolished, compensation was paid to the
persons holding these rights. Murray of Philiphaugh
received £4000 ; and Lord William, Earl of March, as
hereditary sheriff of Tweeddale, ^3418 45. ^d. At the
same time the office of sheriff was vested in the Crown,
which was empowered to appoint a sheriff-depute (the
sheriff principal), who in turn appointed a sheriff-substitute
(the resident county magistrate). The appointment of
sheriff-substitute has since been entrusted to the Crown.
The depute for Peebleshire is also sheriff of the Lothians ;
and the depute for Selkirkshire combines in his sheriffdom
the neighbouring counties of Roxburgh and Berwick.
Previous to 1889 county affairs were managed by
the Commissioners of Supply, the Road Trustees, the*
Local Authority, the Justices of the Peace, the Police
Committee. The Local Government Act of that year
transferred the powers and duties of these authorities in
whole or part to the County Councils. The Commis-
sioners of Supply, appointed originally in 1667, received
their name from the fact that they levied and collected
the u cess" or land tax as supply to the Sovereign. Prior
to 1889 they had also to appoint the county officials and
to maintain a force of police. The Commissioners, who
generally speaking comprised the landowners of the
120 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
district, still meet once a year ; but all the business they
transact is to elect a convener, and to concur with the
County Council in appointing the Standing Joint Com-
mittee for Police.
The Lord-Lieutenant is the military representative of
the Crown, and it is his duty to select persons for the
Commission of the Peace. In this latter duty he is
now assisted by a Local Committee.
Peeblesshire contains the following parishes : Brough-
ton, Glenholm and Kilbucho, Innerleithen, Drummelzier,
Eddleston, Kirkurd, Lyne, Manor, Newlands, Peebles,
Skirling, Stobo, Traquair, Tweedsmuir, West Linton.
The Selkirkshire parishes are : Ashkirk, Caddonfoot,
Ettrick, Galashiels, Selkirk, Kirkhope, Yarrow and part
of Melrose.
Since 1894 Parish Councils have existed for various
local purposes. They administer the poor law, levy
poor and school rates, take charge of the registration of
births, marriages and deaths, and so on. Primary educa-
tion is managed by School Boards. With the extension
of secondary education it was found that the burgh of the
parish was too restricted an area for its administration.
County Committees, otherwise known as Secondary
Education Committees, were therefore instituted, to
co-operate with School Boards in the matter of secondary
education ; and they also share the management of the
training of teachers.
Peebles and Selkirk are ancient royal burghs, managing
their own affairs, under royal charter, by provost, bailies
and councillors. Galashiels was erected a burgh of
ADMINISTRATION AND DIVISIONS 121
barony in 1599, anc^ became a parliamentary burgh in
1868. In 1869 Innerleithen was made a police burgh.
The burgh of Peebles was represented in the Scottish
Parliament as early as the reign of David II ; the burgh
Seal of the Royal Burgh of Peebles, Dec. 15, 1473
(SIGILVM COMVNI VILLE DE PEBILIS)
of Selkirk was first represented in 1469. Neither county
seems to have had a member till the seventeenth century.
Various fluctuations, both in burgh and in county repre-
sentation, took place in the seventeenth century and the
122 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
eighteenth. In 1831 the proposal to unite the counties
of Peebles and Selkirk as one constituency was so
strenuously resisted by the Selkirkshire Commissioners of
Supply that the proposal was dropped. By the Reform
Act of 1832 Peebles and Selkirk were merged with their
respective counties. In 1868, however, Selkirk, Hawick
and Galashiels were formed into the Hawick Burghs, and
known as the "Border Burghs," have since then returned
one member, while the counties of Peebles and Selkirk
were united in one constituency, returning one member.
21. The Roll of Honour.
The typical Borderer was a fighter and adventurer, and
out of his deeds of raid and combat grew the Ballad
literature of the Border. Most of the great names of
the past are therefore associated either with its warfare or
its poetry.
Sir Simon Fraser, the friend and probably the kinsman
of Wallace, fought at first on the side of the English.
But in 1301 he definitely cast in his lot with the Scottish
party, and with Comyn in 1303 won the battle of Roslin.
In 1304 on Eraser's own estate at Happrew in Peebles-
shire, Wallace and he were defeated by the English. In
1306 he fought with Bruce at Methven, where he
saved the king's life. Shortly afterwards, having been
captured, he was executed in the same horrible way as
Wallace, his handsome appearance and noble bearing
compelling the pity and admiration of the spectators.
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 123
Bruce's supporters, the Good Sir James and William
Douglas, the Knight of Liddesdale, have already been
mentioned. After Bannockburn Ettrick Forest came into
the possession of the Douglases. James the second Earl
of Douglas, was the hero of Chevy Chase, and the dead
Douglas that won the field. The fourth Earl died at
Verneuil, the sixth was murdered in Edinburgh Castle.
The eighth was slain at Stirling, and the ninth defeated in
battle at Arkinholm by their implacable foe James II.
Sir Walter Scott of Kirkurd in Peeblesshire was laird
of Buccleuch in Ettrick, when he fought against the
Black Douglases at Arkinholm; and the Sir Walter Scott,
who succeeded his father in 1574, became the first peer
of the family, as Lord Scott of Buccleuch. Buccleuch,
a typical Borderer and the hero of the ballads, Jamie
Telfer and Kinmont Willie, was the man who when asked
by Queen Elizabeth how he dared to break into her
castle of Carlisle, replied : " Madam, what is there that
a man will not dare to do?" Wat o' Harden, the typical
Border Freebooter, is associated with Selkirkshire through
his marriage with Mary Scott of Dryhope Tower, " the
Flower of Yarrow," as famous for her beauty as Wat
was for his courage. He was one of the bold band who
recovered Jamie Telfer's kye and broke the gaol to rescue
Kinmont Willie. His principal residences in Selkirkshire
were Oakwood Tower and Kirkhope Tower. His were
the spurs, now in the possession of his descendant, Lord
Murray of Elibank, which adorned the dish when the larder
was empty ; and it was his son Willie Scott who, caught
by Gideon Murray at Elibank on a reiving expedition,
124 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
afterwards married Gideon's daughter, Agnes Murray.
The story that Willie Scott got his choice of marrying
" Muckle mou'd Meg" or being hanged on the gallows
tree, was thought to be disproved when their marriage
settlement, a document nine feet long, was discovered.
But the story and the settlement are not inconsistent ;
if the hero reluctantly promised marriage to escape a
hanging, the promise may not have been fulfilled till the
marriage contract was drawn up.
The " Outlaw Murray " of the ballad belonged to
what was till recent times the oldest family in Selkirk-
shire. The ballad is supposed to refer to John Murray,
the eighth laird of Philiphaugh, and the scene is Newark.
The Scotts and the Murrays were at feud, and they and
other enemies were thought to have prompted the king
to make his expedition against the outlaws. The
Murrays of Peeblesshire, of the same stock as those of
the Forest, come most prominently into notice in the
sixteenth century. John Murray, the eighth laird of
Blackbarony, knighted in 1592, was known as the first in
the district to plant trees and build dry-stone dykes.
Hence his name of " John the Dyker." His third son
Gideon was father to "Muckle mou'd Meg." Although
he could not write his own name, he became Treasurer
Depute of Scotland. He had a great liking for architec-
ture and building ; and during his tenure of office he had
all the royal palaces and castles in Scotland overhauled.
Having fallen into disfavour with James, he was sent to
prison, where he died of a broken heart. Sir Gideon's
son was first Lord Elibank, and a great-great-grandson,
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 125
the Hon. James Murray, was first Governor-General of
Canada in 1763. Besieged in 1781 in Minorca, he was
offered by the French general a bribe of £100,000 to
surrender but contemptuously refused it, and yielded only
when his men were dying of starvation. Another
Murray, Alexander Murray of Cringletie, served under
Wolfe at Quebec, where he behaved with great gallantry.
Murray was as modest as he was brave. When Benjamin
West was painting the famous picture of the Death of
Wolfe, he requested Murray to pose for one of the
figures. But Murray's answer was : " No ! No ! I was
not by, I was leading the left." Murray of Broughton,
Prince Charles's Secretary, was the ablest administrator,
among the Jacobites of the Forty-five, and the arch-
traitor of their cause.
From the sixth Lord Napier of Thirlestane sprang
many renowned admirals and generals. William John,
eighth Lord Napier, fought at Trafalgar and at Fort
Roquette, captured a French privateer, at Almeria cut
out a French vessel within half range of 50 guns, was
made prisoner at Gibraltar, and after more active service
returned home to Ettrick, where he betook himself to
farming, historical and antiquarian pursuits. Francis,
ninth Lord Napier, after a distinguished diplomatic career,
was appointed Governor of Madras in 1866, and on the
assassination of Lord Mayo became acting Governor-
General of India. He was also a renowned writer and
orator.
More noted for craft than for courage, and blighted
with the fate of the dynasty whose name they bore, were
126 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
the Stewarts of Traquair. Sir John Stewart of Traquair
was made a peer by Charles I in 1628, and took a leading
part in the Covenanting " troubles." He refused to risk
his life at Philiphaugh ; but, commanding a troop of horse
in the Civil War (1648), he was captured. Four years
afterwards he was released to find that his son had seized
his estates. His remaining years were spent in poverty
and disgrace. Dying in 1659, ne was buried like a
pauper, a shoemaker in pity lending his apron for a
pall.
George Pringle of Torwoodlee, a scion of the Pringles
of Selkirkshire, a well-known Border family, was
appointed sheriff of Selkirk by Richard Cromwell in
1659. On the Restoration he was pardoned but
heavily fined. He afforded succour to the Covenanters,
assisted the Earl of Argyll to escape to Holland (1681)
and, being himself charged with complicity in the Rye-
house Plot, fled with Patrick Hume. In Holland Pringle
was one of the council of twelve for the recovery of
the rights and liberties of Scotland, and one of the com-
mittee of seven who planned Argyll's invasion. In 1689
he, along with Scott of Harden, represented Selkirkshire
in the Scottish Convention which offered the crown to
William and Mary. His estates were restored ; but,
worn out with his hardships, he died the same year.
With a taste for natural science, Mungo Park (1771-
1806), son of a Foulshiels farmer, inherited the Borderer's
love of adventure. Educated at Selkirk Grammar
School, he studied medicine, and sailed as surgeon to
Sumatra. In 1795 he went to explore the Niger region.
THE ROLL OF HONOUR
127
This made him famous, and his Travels in the Interior
of Africa is still a classic. He settled in Peebles as a
Mungo Park
medical practitioner, but tired of the life and returned to
the Niger, where he was drowned.
128 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Though Michael Scott the Wizard (1175-1235) has
only a supposed connexion with Selkirkshire, his name
and fame are wedded with its history and literature. As
a student of science and magic he had a European repu-
tation :
" When, in Salamanca's cave,
Him listed his magic wand to wave
The bells would ring in Notre Dame."
He was tutor to the Emperor Frederick II, and court
physician and astrologer at Palermo. Returning to
Scotland in 1230, he died about five years afterwards, and
is buried, says tradition, in Melrose Abbey. His reputed
abode was Oakwood Tower ; but this Border keep was
not built till 300 years after the wizard's death. Dante
has figured him in Purgatory with his head turned round
looking backward because in life he had been a diviner.
The writers of the numerous old ballads are all
unnamed save Nicol Burne, author of Leader Haughs and
Yarrow. He is supposed to have been the foundling
whom Mary Scott discovered forgotten amongst the
baggage after the return of her husband, Wat o' Harden,
from a raid in Northumberland.
" He nameless as the race from which he sprung
Saved other names and left his own unsung."
But, known or unknown, the succession of poets has
never failed. Robert Crawford (1695-1732) was author
of Tweedside and of The Bush aboon Traquair. Hamilton
of Bangour (1704—1754) wrote the Braes o Yarrow, the
measure of which was imitated by Wordsworth in the
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 129
Yarrow poems. Willie Laidlaw (1780-1845), born at
Blackhouse in Selkirkshire, was the author of the pathetic
lyric Lucy's Flittin. Alison Rutherford (Mrs Cockburn),
born at Fairnilee in 1712 and educated in Edinburgh,
where she soon became renowned for her wit and beauty,
was in very truth a nymph of the "Forest" and a
" Maid of Athens." She was the authoress of the
immortal Flowers of the Forest.
Sir Walter Scott, greatest of the Border minstrels and
best of men, was, though born in Edinburgh, closely
associated with Selkirkshire, by descent on the father's
side from Wat o' Harden and on the mother's from the
Rev. John Rutherford of Yarrow, by his official position
as sheriff of the county, and by residence at Ashiesteel.
The scenery, the people, the life, the history, the tradi-
tions of Selkirk and Peebles — all influenced Scott and
Scott's work. " If no country ever owed so much for its
fame to one man as Scotland to Sir Walter Scott, no part
of it has so earned distinction through his notice as
Selkirkshire." The Minstrelsy is full of Selkirk influences,
Marmion was written and waverley was begun at Ashie-
steel. Scott's pictorial power is finely displayed in local
scenes as : " Tweedside in November " (Marm'ion, intro-
duction to canto i) ; " Yarrow " (introduction to cantos
iv and v) ; "A Snowstorm amongst the Hills " (canto
iv) ; and, one of the best, " St Mary's Loch in Calm "
(introduction to canto ii). His novels are full of allusions
to places and persons in the shires, and two of them,
St Ronan's Well and The Black Dwarf, deal especially
with the district.
p. P. s. 9
130
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
James Hogg, " the Ettrick Shepherd," was born in
1770, and, with few and short migrations, lived in
Hogg's Monument at St Mary's Loch
Selkirkshire all his life of sixty-five years as a shep-
herd and as a sheep farmer. He said he preferred a
THE ROLL OF HONOUR 131
Border fair to a King's coronation. His first important
work was The Mountain Bard. His masterpiece is The
Queen's Wake, but his exquisite song, When the kye comes
hame must not be forgotten. Though far below Burns
as a poet, " there is a marked individuality in the shep-
herd's songs and poems ; he was a singer by genuine
impulse, and there was an open-air freshness in his note."
James Nicol (1769-1819), minister of Traquair, wrote
Where Quair rins sweet amang the Flouirs ; and Thomas
Smibert (1810-1834), a doctor and a native of Peebles,
the Scottish Widow's Lament. Professor John Wilson,
"Christopher North" (1785-1854), was author of 39
out of 70 of the NocteSj and the friend of Wordsworth
and of Hogg. Thomas Tod Stoddart (1810-1880)
in his fishing songs praises Lyne, Manor, Yarrow,
Gala, Tweed. Thomas Pringle (1789-1834) wrote his
Autumnal Excursion, inspired by a visit to St Mary's
Loch. Another and finer Bush aboon Traquair was
written by Principal Shairp (1819-1885). The Rev.
Dr Russell in his Reminiscences and the Rev. Dr Borland
in his Anthologies have carried on the literary tradition of
Yarrow. John Veitch, a disciple of Scott and Words-
worth, was born in Peebles, 1829, and died there, 1894.
He was professor of Logic at St Andrews and at Glasgow.
Among his writings associated with his native district are
Tweed and other Poems and his History and Poetry of the
Scottish Border — the standard book on the subject. James
Brown (1852-1904), a Selkirk manufacturer, under the
nom de plume of J. B. Selkirk, wrote Selkirk after Flodden
and O Yarrow garlanded with rhyme. As a poet and a
9—3
132 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
man of letters, Andrew Lang (1844-1912), is the most
distinguished son of Selkirkshire in modern times. Born
at Selkirk, where he spent his childhood, he early dis-
played a bent towards literary pursuits. In range and
productiveness he has had no rivals in Great Britain,
and has even been seriously regarded as a society of
authors. History, poetry, biography, belles-lettres, and
comparative religion he treated with learning, liveliness
and interest. His love for his native district has been
beautifully expressed in Twilight on Tweed and Sunset
on Yarrow.
The brothers William and Robert Chambers, the
publishers, are the most eminent men of letters of modern
times belonging to Peeblesshire. They were born at
Peebles, William in 1800, Robert in 1802. In 1832
William started Chambers 's Edinburgh Journal. In 1859
he founded the Chambers Institute in Peebles. He was
Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and carried out at his own
cost the restoration of St Giles' Cathedral. He died in
1883. His History of Peeblesshire is the standard book
on the subject. Robert's Festiges of Creation was an
anticipation of Darwin's Origin of Species. His numerous
other volumes include History of the Rebellions in Scot-
land^ Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, The Life and Works
of Robert Burns. Henry Calderwood (1830-1899),
minister in Edinburgh and professor of Moral Philosophy,
wrote Philosophy of the Infinite and Mind and Brain.
James Nicol, professor of Natural Philosophy in the
University of Aberdeen, was the first discoverer of
graptolites in the greywacke of the district. James
Andrew Lang
134 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Wilson, editor of the Border Advertiser, contributed to
the elucidation of Professor Lapworth's theory regarding
the Silurian formation of the Southern Uplands.
In law and politics there are also eminent names.
Andrew Pringle (Lord Alemoor), the son of John Pringle
of the Raining, a senator of the College of Justice, was
successively Sheriff of Selkirk, Solicitor-General for Scot-
land and a judge of the Court of Session. Sir James
Montgomery's name is honourably associated with land
reform in the eighteenth century. The second son of
William Montgomery of Macbie Hill, he was successively
Sheriff of Peeblesshire, Solicitor-General, Lord Advocate,
and Baron of the Exchequer of Scotland. In 1745
he purchased the estate of Stanhope and became an
" Improver." Later he bought the Whim from the
Duke of Argyll, and found as much wine in the cellar
as paid for the estate. He was the author of the Entail
Act, so advantageous to agricultural progress in Scotland.
Montgomery also took an active part in the Parliamen-
tary abolition of serfdom in Scotland. Macqueen of
Braxfield was of a different type. A ferocious partisan
in politics, he acted as a sort of Judge Jeffreys for the
reactionary government of the period, circa 1793, in its
efforts to repress the movement for political reform.
Forbes Mackenzie of Portmore was M.P. for the county
in 1830, and was responsible for the Forbes Mackenzie
Act, the first important measure of licensing reform,
which would have been unnecessary had every Scottish
hostess followed the precepts and practice of " Meg
Dods " of the Cleikum Inn at Peebles, who — according
Professor George Lawson
136 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
to Scott in St Ronans Well — discouraged late hours and
deep potations.
Some of the most distinguished names in the history
of the Scottish Church for the past 400 years are
associated with the two shires. John Welsh (1568-
1622), the famous preacher, in his youth consorted
with the thieves of Liddesdale. He was minister of
Selkirk, of Kirkcudbright and of Ayr. After im-
prisonment, he was banished and went to France,
where he became minister to the Huguenots at St Jean
d'Angley. Another famous preacher was Thomas
Boston, appointed to Ettrick in 1707. Notable books of
his are the Fourfold State, The Crook in the Lot, and his
autobiography. Professor Lawson was born at Boghouse,
Peeblesshire, and for fifty years had charge of the Seces-
sion Church at Selkirk. One of his students, John Lee,
joining the Church of Scotland, was appointed minister of
Peebles, then professor of Church History at St Andrews,
and finally Principal of Edinburgh University. Professor
John Ker (1816-1886), born at the Bield, Tweedsmuir,
became one of the most brilliant preachers of the United
Presbyterian Church.
Some of those who did much to promote the woollen
industry in the district were Dickson of Peebles, the first
manufacturer to make shepherd-tartan trousers, the origin
of checked Tweeds; Murray of Galashiels, who brought
Australian wool into vogue ; Mercer, " the enterprising
pioneer of the local industry" in the use of machinery;
and George Roberts, who introduced a set of carding
engines, an American invention.
22. THE CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES
(The figures in brackets after each name give the population in
1911, and those at the end of each section are references
to pages in the text.)
A.— PEEBLESSHIRE.
Broughton (pa. 668), situated where the Tweed flowing
north from Tweedsmuir turns eastward. There are many British
forts in the neighbourhood and relics of the bronze period have
been frequently found, (pp. 8, 10, 13, 58, 76, 79, 111, 113, 118,
125.)
Cardrona, a small hamlet in the parish of Traquair midway
between Peebles and Innerleithen. (pp. 33, 41, 49, 79, 84, 95.)
Carlops, in West Linton parish three miles N.E. of West
Linton. Its old name was Carlynlippis and it was from 1334
to 1357 one of the landmarks of the northern boundary of
England, which at that time included part of Peeblesshire.
" Habbie's Howe" near Carlops in the valley of the Esk is the
scene of Allan Ramsay's Gentle Shepherd, (pp. 23, 66, 68.)
Drummelzier (pa. 164), three miles S.E. of Broughton
Station, has a pre-Reformation parish church. A thornbush
near the churchyard marks the traditional burial-place of Merlin
the Wizard, (pp. 14, 15, 17, 32, 33, 58, 85, 92, 95, "3, n6.)
Eddleston (pa. 589) is a village 4^ miles N. of Peebles.
In the neighbourhood is the beautiful cascade of Cowie's Lynn.
138 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
West of the village stands Darnhall, the seat of the Murrays —
called formerly Halton,and afterwards Blackbarony. (pp. n, 58.)
Innerleithen (2547), near the month of the Leithen
Water, has large woollen mills. Long famous as a summer
resort, it had, in the early part of last century, some renown as a
watering-place. In early times the church of Innerleithen was
dedicated to St Kentigern. Malcolm II bestowed upon it the
right of sanctuary because the dead body of his son, who had
been accidentally drowned in Tweed, had lain there one night
before burial. The Carnegie Free Library is a building of Eliza-
bethan design, (pp. 8, 1 1, 17, 32, 49, 61, 67, 118, 121.)
Kirkurd (pa. 253), a village about nine miles N.W. of
Peebles, (pp. 58, 66.)
Lyne (Pa- I25)> a hamlet on the left bank of Lyne Water
beneath the southern slope of the plateau on which Lyne camp
is situated. The neighbourhood is noted for its British forts,
pre-historic remains, and the church built in 1644. The pulpit,
presented by Lady Yester, is a highly finished piece of woodwork
from Holland, (pp. 7, n, 33, 58, 66, 82, 83, 84, 88.)
Lamancha, a small village in the parish of Newlands, used
to be the seat of the Earls of Dundonald. (pp. 32, 106.)
Manor (pa. 261) is a scattered hamlet in the valley of
Manor Water. In the churchyard is the grave of the Black
Dwarf, who lived in a cottage erected by himself near Wood-
house farm. Posso near the south end of the valley is famous
for its falcons. Hill forts are numerous. One, Macbeth's Castle,
occupies a rocbe moutonnee in the middle of the valley. South
of Posso Craig stood the parish church, known as St Gordian's
Kirk, till about the year 1650. In 1874 a cross was erected
by Sir James Naesmyth of Posso to mark the spot. Between
St Gordian's Cross and Manorhead, a monumental cairn has been
erected to the memory of Professor John Veitch "in his favourite
valley." (pp. 7, n, 34, 38, 39, 4o, 4', 49, 58, 84, 113, 118.)
139
Newlands (pa. 590), a hamlet between West Linton and
Eddleston. (pp. 38, 58, 120.)
Peebles (5554), the county town and an ancient royal burgh,
was in existence before 1195. The old town lay north of the
Tweed and west of Eddleston Water. The only part now re-
maining stretches from Bigglesknowe to St Andrew's Tower.
Queensberry Lodging as possessed by 'Old Q.' in the
Eighteenth Century
Purchased by William Chambers \ 85 7
The old town was more than once burned by the English, and
in the sixteenth century a new town sprang up along the high
ridge extending from the site of the parish church to the East-
gate. The new town was surrounded by a wall, a portion of
which may still be seen on Venlaw Road. Peebles was a famous
ecclesiastical centre till the Reformation, and a favourite residence
140 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
of the Scottish Kings. David II granted it a charter in 1337,
and probably David I had done the same. Bruce, having re-
covered it from the English, demolished its Castle. After the
Reformation a number of the nobility and gentry took up their
residence in Peebles; but after the Union they left it for London.
By the middle of the eighteenth century the spirit of commercial
enterprise had awakened in the place, and since the introduction
of the Tweed manufacture the town has steadily developed.
In the year 1624 the building, afterwards known as the
Queensberry Lodging, was presented by James VI to Lord Yester,
ancestor of the Marquis of Tweeddale; and in 1687 became the
property of the Duke of Queensberry. There is a current tradi-
tion that "Old Q_" was born in the Queensberry Lodging. In
1857 it was acquired by William Chambers, who presented it to
his native town. By Chambers the building was entirely recon-
structed with the exception of the vaulted ground-floor. Recently,
through the munificence of Mr Andrew Carnegie, the Chambers
Institution was reconstructed and extended. The new buildings,
opened in 1912, comprise the Council Chambers, the Town Hall,
the Library, the Museum, doubled in size, an Art Gallery and
other accommodation. Peebles has also County Buildings, a fine
specimen of Tudor design; a High School for Burgh and County;
a Hydro ; and numerous churches. The old Cross, in High
Street, has had an eventful history. There is a golf course, with
a fine southern exposure, overlooking town and valley.
The Burgh arms (see page 121) are three salmon naiant counter
naiant, with the legend, Contra nando incrementum. It was a
common jest in more convivial days, when the saying " Peebles
for Pleesure" had its origin, to make them "three tumblers."
(pp. i, 2, 14, 15, 17, 30, 33, 35, 61, 64, 67, 69, 74, 75, 76, 77,
85. 87, 98, in, 112, 113, 115, 118, 120, i2i, 122, 127, 131,
i32, '34, 136.)
Romanno Bridge, a hamlet in the parish of Newlands,
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 141
has famous terraces ; whether made by the Britons, or the
Romans, or the monks of Newbattle Abbey, is uncertain. Similar
terraces occur on Roger's Crag, east of Halmyre. (pp.. 1 1, 13.)
Stobo (pa. 350), a hamlet seven miles west of Peebles. The
church, a Plebania or mother church in early times, is men-
tioned in the Inquisition of David I as having belonged to Kenti-
gern, and in the Peebles Burgh Records as "Saint Mungoy's Kirk
of Stobo." John Reid of Stobo, churchman and notary, is one
of the poets whom William Dunbar mourns for in his Lament for
the Makaris:
"And he [Death] has now tane, last of aw,
Gud gentill Stobo et Quintyne Schaw,
Of quham all wichtis hes pete :
Timor Mortis conturbat me."
(PP- i3, 17, 30, 40, 4.1, 44, 45, 59, 67, 85, 88, 106, 116.)
Traquair (pa. 559), a well-known hamlet near the Quair
Burn opposite to Innerleithen, is famous for its associations with
Traquair House and for the song The Bush aboon 'Traquair.
(pp. i, 8, 17, 18, 27, 33, 49, 58, 68, 76, 77, 85, 96, 101, 102,
104, 105, 113, 126, 131.)
Tweedsmuir (pa. 198) is a small hamlet in the upper
reaches of the Tweed. The churchyard contains the grave of
John Hunter, a martyr for the Covenant. In the neighbourhood
is Oliver Castle, built about 1200, the home of the Erasers,
(pp. 14, 15, 41, 58, 77, 84, 85, 136.)
Walkerburn (1331), a village in the parish of Innerleithen,
founded in 1855 by Henry Ballantyne, in whose memory the
Ballantyne Memorial Institute was erected, 1903. On the face
of Purvis Hill near Walkerburn is a range of terraces similar
to those at Romanno. Opposite to Walkerburn is the Flora glen,
in which Hogg's "Bonnie Kilmeny" was spirited away by the
fairies, (pp. u, 32, 61, 107.)
142 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
West Linton (pa. 1000) is a favourite summer resort for
Edinburgh people, owing to its nearness (sixteen miles) to the
capital and its healthy situation, 600 feet above sea-level. The
parish church has fine wood-carving. Linton was the first
known settlement of the Comyn family in Scotland. West
Linton was formerly a burgh of regality, with a baron-bailie and
a council of feuars, called the "Linton Lairds." One of these,
Laird Gifford, was a noted local sculptor. The finial of the
Jubilee clock, representing his wife, is his work. West Linton
had become famous for its stone carvers from the time when the
builders at Drochil Castle introduced their art to the village.
(PP- 13, 23, 34, 35, 40, 49, 58, 66, 67.)
B.— SELKIRKSHIRE.
Ashkirk (pa. 329), a village 5^ miles south of Selkirk.
(pp. 8, 22, 58, III, 120.)
Caddonfoot (pa. 709), a hamlet four miles south-west of
Galashiels, is the scene of the old ballad Katharine Janfarie,
which suggested Lochlnvar to Scott, (pp. 9, 18, 49, 58, 66, 113,
120.)
Chapelhope is a small hamlet at the head of the Loch o'
the Lowes. Near at hand is the statue to James Hogg, " the
Ettrick Shepherd." Chapelhope was originally the site of Rodono
Chapel, and there are traces of a mote on which the Bailies of
Rodono dispensed justice on behalf of the Abbots of Melrose.
Clovenfords, a small village in Caddonfoot parish, has
memories of Scott, De Quincey, Leyden, and Wordsworth.
In 1867 relics were discovered on Meigle Hill of an old military
encampment, comprising scrap iron, broken blacksmith's tongs,
and fragments of sheet bronze, (pp. 18, 59, 109.)
Ettrick (pa. 344) consists of a church, a school, a manse
and a churchyard. In the churchyard lie buried Boston; Hogg;
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 143
Hogg's grandfather; " Will o' the Phaup," a noted athlete; Tibbie
Shiel ; and Baron Napier of Ettrick. Hogg's birthplace, Ettrick-
hall farm, is near the church, (pp. 19, 48, 58, 1 16, 117, 125, 136.)
Galashiels (14,531), a parliamentary burgh, occupies i\
miles of the narrow valley of the Gala before its junction with
the Tweed. In 1559 it was made a burgh of barony, having
then only 400 inhabitants. Towards the end of the eighteenth
century Galashiels according to Dorothy Wordsworth was a
large irregularly built village, just beginning to assume a " townish
bustle." It was at this time, during the Napoleonic Wars, that
Galashiels got and took its opportunity to develop its trade. It is
now the chief seat in Scotland of the Tweed manufacture. The
rapid rise of the trade is marked by the fact that the annual
value of its woollen manufactures rose from £1000 in 1790 to
£1,250,000 in 1890, when the population was 17,367. The trade
depression that followed reduced the population in 1901 to 13,615,
after which a revival began. The increased prosperity of the
town has been shown not only by the growth of the population
but also by the introduction of a costly drainage scheme, the
erection of a Technical College, a handsome building of red
sandstone in classic style, the opening of a new Secondary School,
and the laying out of a new town square. The square includes
a fountain with a shaft, surmounting the capital and frieze of
which is a reproduction of the town's coat-of-arms — a fox in the
attempt to reach some pendent plums, with the legend, "Soor
Plums." This is associated with a song the tune of which alone
remains. The song, Sour Plums in Galashiels, commemorated a
defeat inflicted by the natives on the English, who were regaling
themselves with the wild plums which grew near the village.
Another song connected with the town is Gala Water, on which
Burns built his beautiful lyric with the refrain "Braw, Braw
Lads." These words are appropriately inscribed on the base of
the bronze bust of Burns at the foot of Lawyers Brae.
144 PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Besides Tweed manufactures, Galashiels has dyeworks, iron
foundries, engineering works, and boot factories, (pp. 5, 7, 9, 12,
15, 27, 30, 44, 45, 52, 58, 59, 61, 62, 64, 66, 76, 77, 79, in,
121, 122.)
Kirkhope (pa. 384) consists of a manse, a farm steading,
and the old tower of Kirkhope. (pp. 58, 95, 101, 128, 136.)
Flodden Flag
Selkirk (5886) is a royal burgh and the county town.
Notable features are the Old Town Hall with its clock and spire,
the statues of Sir Walter Scott and Mungo Park, the New Town
Hall, the "Mercat" Cross, the Flodden Memorial. Selkirk
Abbey, unfinished, and Selkirk Castle, the frequent abode of
Scottish kings, date back to the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.
In 1418 the town was burned by the English. At Flodden
CHIEF TOWNS AND VILLAGES 145
Selkirk lost a large proportion of its burghers. Only one of
the Selkirk contingent returned. He- is figured in the town's
memorial of the battle, holding aloft in his hand an English
pennon which the Selkirk men won from their foes (see page 73).
A flag still preserved is, according to tradition, this very trophy.
In 1640 Provost Muthag was slain while defending the burghlands
from the aggressions of Ker of Brigheuch, a neighbouring laird.
The town's war-song is
"Up wi' the Souters o' Selkirk
And down wi' the Earl o' Hume,"
the tune of which is peculiar in ending on the dominant seventh.
The coat-of-arms of the Burgh is a female figure holding a
child in her arms, supposed to be the Virgin and the Child, and
most likely adopted from the seal of St Mary's Church of Selkirk.
The shield with the lion rampant was added probably in the
time of James V. The motto is: Et spreta incolumem vita defendere
famam. (pp. 2,5, 42, 52, 58, 60, 64, 66, 73, 76, 77, 85, 90, 118,
I2O, 121, 122, 126, 131, 132, 136.)
Yarrow (pa. 510) consists of a church, a school, a police-
station, and a group of houses by the roadside, (pp. 7, 8, 9, 20,
33, 36, 49. 58, 67, 68, 71, 84, 89, 113, 115, 129, 131.)
P. P. S. 10
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Scotland
29,798 sq. miles
(excluding water)
<u IX
fr
Fig. i. Areas (excluding water) of Peebles (347 sq. miles)
and Selkirk (267 sq. miles) compared with that of Scotland
Scotland
4,759,445
WQ,
It
Fig. 2. Population of Peebles (15,258) and Selkirk (24,600)
compared with that of Scotland in 1911
M N ro **•
08 CO 00 CO
25,000
15,000
Peebles,
Fig. 3. Diagram showing increase in population in Peebles
and Selkirk since 1801
Selkirk 91
Scotland 157
Lanark 1633 Sutherland 10
Fig. 4. Comparative Density of Population to the
square mile in 1911
(Each dot represents 10 persons)
148
PEEBLES AND SELKIRK
Other Crops
& Bare Fallow (37 acres)
44,784 acres
Fig. 5. Proportionate area under Corn Crops compared with
that of other cultivated land in Peebles and Selkirk in
1912
Fig. 6. Proportionate areas of chief cereals in Peebles
and Selkirk in 1912
DIAGRAMS
149
Fig. 7. Proportionate areas of land in Peebles and
Selkirk in 1912
Fig. 8. Proportionate numbers of Live Stock in
Peebles and Selkirk in 1912
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Crown 8vo. With 15 illustrations, iis.
" It is a thoroughly good book, clear, compact, up to date, and packed
with facts." — Saturday Review
The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate, Mesopotamia,
Persia and Central Asia, from the Moslem conquest to the time of
Timur. By GUY LE STRANGE. Crown 8vo. With IQ maps. i£j.
"This very serviceable, sound, and thorough piece of work." — English
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A Geographical History of Mammals. By R. LVDEKKER,
B.A., F.R.S. Crown 8vo. With Illustrations and a Map. los. 6d.
" Mr Lydekker's volume forms a valuable contribution to the ' Cambridge
Geographical Series,' and the general editor has done wisely in securing such
a well-written essay on this branch of his subject from a palaeontological point
of view.... Altogether, it contains a large mass of information reduced into a
small compass, and will meet, we are sure, with generous appreciation from all
students of distribution." — Natiire
Outlines of Military Geography. By T. MILLER MAGUIRE,
LL.D. Crown 8vo. With 27 maps and illustrations, los. (>d.
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of all callings — sailor, soldier, or civilian." — Pall Mall Gazette
A, History of Ancient Geography. By the Rev. H. F.
TOZER, M.A. Crown 8vo. With 10 Maps. los. 6d.
" The latest volume of the Cambridge Geographical Series goes far to fill a
serious gap in geographical literature. The need for a concise and interesting
history of Geography in English has often been expressed, and now so far as
the period covered by his work is concerned, Mr Tozer has earned the thanks
of all concerned in geographical education." — Geographical journal
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